


Stalemate

by DepressedTeacupInc, TwilightMaster15



Series: Miraculous Death Note [2]
Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga), Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Everyone Needs A Hug, Family Secrets, Implied/Referenced Torture, L and Light are not amused, Luka Couffaine has the patience of a saint, M/M, Marinette Arrested, New Kira Case, Oblivious Gays 2: Electric Boogaloo, Peacock Miraculous Can't Stay Fixed, Protective Luka Couffaine, Slow Burn, Trauma, detective Adrien
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-04-03 22:40:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 39,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21710299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DepressedTeacupInc/pseuds/DepressedTeacupInc, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightMaster15/pseuds/TwilightMaster15
Summary: One year after the end of Miraculous Death Note, L and Light start their race to see who can catch Hawk Moth first...only to find themselves bitterly disappointed when the case is solved in twenty minutes tops. They also don't approve of L's stalker successor with a hero-complex. And there's the little detail that NOBODY in France seems to acknowledge the existence of security cameras.But when they learn Light's successor, Adrien, is abused by his father, belittled by his partner, and forced to hide who he really is, Light and L both decide getting involved in this insanity wasn't a complete waste of time.Things once again become interesting with the return of Kira, but it's not Light... Not long after, the revived monks of the guardian temple prove themselves to be a nuisance, and Adrien makes a dangerous decision and must live with the consequences.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, L/Yagami Light
Series: Miraculous Death Note [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1564822
Comments: 59
Kudos: 102





	1. Chapter 1

L woke up with a yawn, frowning a little when he saw he'd gotten a full seven hours of sleep, and his fiancé, Light, wasn't in bed with him. Everything about that was strange, because usually he was always up before Light.

Getting up with a yawn, he put on a shirt and walked into the kitchen, where he saw Light was already working away with a trademark Kira-like smirk on his face.

"Light, what are you doing?" Light was still grinning like mad, not bothering to hide it.

"Do you remember what today is?" L frowned a little bit before his eyes widened at the calendar.

One year ago today, that old man had taken their Miraculouses. And they had agreed they would compete to see who could catch Hawk Moth first once the year mark hit if the new heroes hadn't solved the case.

Light was still smirking, "And I already have a lead and am 98% sure I already found Hawk Moth. Damn, this was easy. I actually don't think this is fun, so it looks like I win the bet."

The winner got to choose who took whose surname for their wedding in three months. The two outcomes were L Yagami or Light Lawliet. Neither really cared, and were just in this for the game, just like the L v Kira game many years ago.

L had an equally wicked grin, "Cheater! You gave me those sleeping pills last night so you could get that lead!" Light didn't even try to deny it, and L lunged at him with his Ladybug agility, straddling him and pinning Light's hands with his knees as he removed Light's top.

Now, one little thing L had learned in his three years in an intimate relationship with Light was that he was extremely ticklish along his torso. He knew this, and Light knew he knew this. And the ever stoic Light Yagami had a look of terror on his face as L slowly tickled each rib individually as punishment. 

Light was panting in his efforts to not give L the satisfaction of hearing the pained laughter, but it eventually all came out in a scream when L stuck his finger in Light's bellybutton. A part of him wished he'd known about this weakness back when they were enemies because it was so bad for Light that he acknowledged he probably would have admitted he was Kira to make it stop.

"GAAAAHHH! L STOP IT PLEEAASSESESE! I-I—I'm SORRY!" 

L stroked Light's bottom lip, "You've been very bad, you know that?" He had to admit being in a relationship where he was definitely the top had done quite a number for his self-esteem, and Light sharing the burden of darker cases, so now he didn't hunch as much, and the bags under his eyes were a bit better. Overall, he looked much healthier since Light had become his partner.

Needless to say, Watari and Near had been shocked when they had walked in on L absolutely dominating the ever-proud Light more than once over the years. 

Light whimpered, "You're right. I'll show you my lead... we can work together..."

"Good kitty. And for the record, you cheated, so I automatically win." Light pouted a little, but not much since he'd secretly done this since he wanted to work with L on this.

"So," L looked at the computer, "Emilie Agreste vanished supposedly in Tibet, where that Guardian Temple is, like a week before Hawk Moth appeared? This means Hawk Moth is obviously Gabriel Agreste."

"As I said, so easy it's pathetic nobody solved it in this whole year. It's not even worth betting over."

"Wait a second..." L growled, "You know, seeing as that old man has a tendency to make wielders know each other, I have a feeling your successor is Adrien Agreste."

So... the two of them had actually gone to France to see their successors in action, and L was bitterly disappointed by how the new Ladybug treated her partner, as though he wasn't equal. The difference was that L and Light had been friends as superheroes, and these new wielders seemed as though one was the leader stringing her partner along with no equality whatsoever.

Light was pretty happy with his successor, who at least made an effort to be kind to new teammates, while Ladybug just got bitchy—they had been visiting during the Volpina incident and then kept tabs on the extra heroes that appeared. L had taken one look at the boy and deduced that seeing as his ribs were slightly visible—and that reminded both detectives of the false execution incident and the rough shape Kuroneko had been—he was probably poor or abused.

_ "Come on, Light, not even _ I'm _ that skinny." _ L had pointed out months ago.

But still, they would have been fine moving to France for a while, so they were a little pissed the old man had chosen hormonal fifteen-year-olds to replace two experienced adults! Seriously, even when L and Light were chosen, they had been 25 and 18—now they were 28 and 27 since the age difference vanished when L died and then came back years later. While both Light and L had a feeling the Cat Miraculous was freedom for Chat Noir, they also both remembered how dangerous this job was and didn't want a child involved in that.

L had also been mad when they had realized his successor was technically a criminal—and France didn't mess around with theft and stalking charges. This Marinette girl is the type of person to be a target for Kira. How did they know this? They looked at security cameras—and she _ really _ needed to be better about not transforming in places with security cameras.

But now, the idea of that boy being Adrien Agreste—the wealthiest kid in Paris, even over the Bourgeois family—being this scrawny kid with obvious self-esteem issues hidden under jokes, that made L's blood boil. Just to be sure, he listened to some Ladyblog footage of Chat Noir talking, then that Miraculous-themed movie with Adrien Agreste as a voice actor. Identical. 

As former Miraculous wielders, they suspected the glamor no longer worked on them, or maybe Marinette and Gabriel were just really bad at hiding their identities. If this new Ladybug insisted on being the leader, and she was potentially dumber than the villain, that made sense why the case hadn't been solved in like twenty minutes. Or maybe that was L's supergenius brain talking.

L pouted a little, "So, the bet is off, and now we're just proving to the old man that he made a mistake in replacing us with a stalker and not calling child protective services for the clearly abused teenager?"

"Pretty much."

OoOoO

"Hello Mr. Agreste," L said, smiling politely as he instantly pinpointed where the Miraculous was, "We have a warrant to search the place."

Gabriel was clearly taken aback, "What?"

Light chuckled, "Sorry, we didn't introduce ourselves. I'm Lightbringer, and this is my fiancé, L." And that had the fashion designer terrified since the two greatest detectives in the world were here and wanted to search his house. Normally Light and L wouldn't reveal themselves, but something about this case just made them want to be the ones to do the arrest, in person.

L instantly noticed the faded marks on the painting and immediately knew where the lair was.

"Go ahead then," Gabriel said, "I have nothing to hide."

L took Light's hand and made a beeline for the painting, pressing the buttons and going down together, much to Gabriel's horror.

When they saw Mrs. Agreste's dead body in that coffin, Light turned to Nathalie and Gabriel,

"Firstly, I know how you feel since you're clearly trying to use the wish to bring her back—I too kept my dead love in a coffin until I could find the Miraculous to complete the wish. Secondly, you're both under arrest for terrorism and child abuse."

"Wait—you used the wish?!"

"Yes, and it worked, but using it safely is agonizing for all parties involved." L pulled out his shirt to reveal the scar he still had from being run through. 

But then Hawk Moth and Mayura were arrested for all to see. Chloe Bourgeois was also detained for willingly assisting terrorists—Light had a bit of an ego boost, since he had been able to get around sixty-four security cameras in his time as Kira, and these people couldn't get past _one_. It took ten minutes of effort for the detectives to solve the case nobody could figure out in a year.

(They were also very irritated that the guardian was out of the picture because a part of this investigation was their mutually childish desire to rub it in his face that they solved this case in twenty minutes.)

OoOoO

"So, Adrien," L and Light were having lunch with Adrien in London since he'd been forced to move in with his aunt and cousin, "We were wondering if you wanted to stay with us." Light said since he found Adrien's aunt to be insufferable, and she clearly also denied the poor boy food, "You have the potential to be a great detective and Miraculous wielder."

Adrien spit out his drink, "What?"

L chuckled, "Relax. Light and I are the previous Ladybug and Cat wielders. I'm sure Light could teach you some things about your powers." Plagg emerged,

"It's good to see you again, Light. Hope you haven't been killing people." 

"Nope, I have not." Light tapped his watch a few times, "Not anymore." But L knew there was still a small piece of the Death Note hidden in the watch. Light never used it, it was more a fidget to look at it.

L nodded, "So now, are you interested in staying with us in Japan for a while?"

"I..." Adrien hesitated, "I want to, don't get me wrong, but... my father... what would he think if I ran off to join the same detectives who arrested him? And what would Ladybug think... what if she gets mad at me and takes my Miraculous?"

"Adrien," L put a hand on Adrien's, knowing how the boy felt. Before being placed in an orphanage, L's birth parents had been drug addicts who would hit him and deprive him of basic needs, to the point he had associated touching with violence, didn't know what a hug was, and knew how to defend himself by the time he was six. When Watari had adopted him from the orphanage after his parents died from an overdose, he had finally found someone to trust, "I can tell your father was abusing you—and to a degree, Ladybug was too. You can't let the opinion of others influence your decisions. Light, and I will be here to help you. If Ladybug tries to take your Miraculous, we will handle her."

Adrien started crying, and L turned to look at Light, who was once again staring at a scrap of the Death Note. It was so tempting to let Light do it, but he didn't want Light to fall down that rabbit hole again. So he shut the watch and sent his fiancé a look that said, "No, don't kill. Go beat the hell out of him in person later." Light nodded and held the crying boy. L could tell Light was very happy to have a talented successor.

Adrien looked up, "I can't go back to France without people thinking me the son of a villain and nothing more. I want to prove I'm more than that! C-Can I take up that offer to stay with you?"

L and Light looked to each other, "Of course you can."

Light then became dead-serious, "But right now my fiancé and I are fighting over who takes whose name when we get married. Either Yagami or Lawliet."

"I personally like Lawliet better." Adrien replied, "Especially if you all are adopting me like those forms in your bag are implying."

L grinned in pride since clearly, this boy was perspective. He could make a great detective.

Light pulled out the forms, "Alright then, just sign here." Adrien signed the adoption papers, stating that he was willing to do this, and it looked as though a huge weight had been taken off his shoulders as he abandoned the Agreste name forever.

OoOoO

A month after the wedding, Light came back from his trip to visit Gabriel in prison, looking very pleased with himself. L had just tucked one Adrien Lawliet into bed. 

L was eating his nightly cake and grinned at the sight of his new husband, "How was your trip?"

"Very productive," Light winked and opened his suitcase, revealing a ladybug-themed egg, "I may have gotten your successor arrested."

"While I'm not complaining," L said, "Can I ask on what grounds?"

"I overheard her muttering that Chat Noir is useless, so naturally I confronted her about him maybe having personal things to deal with—because I can relate to that, and you weren't a bitch to me about it. Then she attacked me, demanding to know where Adrien was since apparently, she knew I am one of his new caretakers. I stole her Miraculous right off her ears, and then she got arrested for assault charges. I then revealed I'm Lightbringer and showed the police security footage of her trying to or successfully breaking into the Agreste mansion multiple times. There was also the fact she stole Adrien's phone at one point, and that's a ten-year sentence in France, but this led to a warrant to search her house, where she had Adrien's entire schedule. And I also found this egg and decided to take it. Then I met with her while she was being questioned, and I think she might have more of a god-complex than Kira."

L stared blankly at the egg, then at Light, "Light, I love you, but nobody can have more of a god-complex than Kira." 

"You didn't have a conversation with a caught red-handed Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"I suppose you're right." L finished his cake, and they both opened the door to Adrien's room, seeing him hugging the stuffed cat toy they'd gifted him for his birthday, fast asleep, his messy hair in his face.

Adrien, as it turned out, was a remarkable detective. Using the same methods as L and Lightbringer—never coming out and revealing themselves unless the case was personal, and even then once the case was solved—he had already solved eighteen cases in the last five months, going under the name A,. After hearing stories of L shamelessly being his awkward self around people, Adrien had become more confident in his own personality.

The task force, Rem, and Misa all loved Adrien. The Yagami family had been a little shocked when Light introduced them to a young teenager he claimed was his new son, but they quickly grew to like Adrien. Sayu loved being an aunt, and both Soichiro and Sachiko loved spoiling their new grandson. Soichiro had been thrilled Adrien was also one who sought justice. 

At night, Light would train Adrien on how to master his Cat Miraculous powers. There was an advantage for adults since it took hours for the transformation to wear out, while kids could only stay transformed until they used their special power.

L smiled as he knew Adrien had become a healthy weight as he should be. It was good, with this boy far away from the paparazzi and the toxic people he considered loved ones. His best friend, Nino, still came to visit during school breaks, since he was thrilled Adrien had found people who took care of him and let him be himself.

Light shut Adrien's door and started kissing L passionately, pinning him on the bed, taking a moment to be in charge here, "I gotta say, this whole mess with our successors gave me a whole new appreciation for you. Thanks for not being a little bitch when I was gone for fifty days." 

L sat up, hugging Light tight, "And thank you for still caring, even when you had your memory back." 

"Of course," he put on his trademark Kira smirk, "I made Gabriel regret being born." 

"As you should, because that man has no right to be a father. How long is he going to be in prison?"

"Let's just say that the Hawk Moth and child abuse reveal opened a whole can of worms for blackmailing charges and such. I'd say he's lucky France doesn't have the death penalty, and Kira isn't around anymore. The assistant seems to have Stolkholm Syndrome, so even if she didn't do anything about the abuse and still helped Hawk Moth terrorize innocent children in an attempt to murder teenagers, she's only in a mental institution." He growled, "And Gabriel already bailed himself out of most of the charges, even blowing Adrien's college funds to do it. In all honesty, even if he should be getting the death penalty, he might be out in a couple years." 

L had known Light for long enough to know when he was thinking about using the Death Note scrap, "Light, no. I know you want to. Hell, _ I _ want to. But think about Adrien. He knows you were Kira, which means he would blame himself for inadvertently pushing you to come out of retirement if his father suddenly dropped dead."

"It's strange," Light looked up at the ceiling, "I haven't felt the urge to kill since you came back. And now..."

"That's because the case is personal, Light. We both know Gabriel is going to try regaining custody of Adrien. But he's powerless against us now. Hopefully, he learned his lesson not to mess with you."

"I hope." Light yawned, wrapping his arms around L's chest and smiling, "I love you, L," L smiled,

"I love you too, Light. Let's worry about everything tomorrow." 

Both fell into a blissful sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Light woke up to L shaking him, pulling him out of a dream he couldn't remember.

"L, we have a problem, and it involves Adrien!"

"What could be so important that you have to wake me up at two in the morning—and interrupt my beauty sleep."

"Remember about a year and a half ago when Rem mentioned someone new has Ryuk's Death Note? But we didn't worry about it because there were no new deaths?"

"Yes, I remember," Light shot up as he realized the impact of what his husband was saying, "Oh no..."

"A new Kira has appeared," L said, pulling up a file on his computer, which read:

Prisoners once again dropping dead, not only in big prisons but also in juvenile jails and mental institutions. Notable deaths: Gabriel Agreste, Chloe Bourgeois, Nathalie Sancour...

The article went on to talk about the death of a ton of terrorists and others, but those three had Light's eyes wide in horror.

"Oh no." Light looked up, "I know Adrien's been estranged from Gabriel and Nathalie for a while, but he still kept in contact with Chloe," it wasn't that L or Light liked that, but it was also pointless to argue with him, "So how are we going to tell him..."

"For starters, he is going to be on the case," L pointed out, "He's always been fascinated by the Kira case, and now it's back and personal for him. Looking at this, the new owner is going after terrorists. That's a good start."

Light ran his hands through his hair, and saw Plagg was up eating cheese, "Plagg, what do I do?"

"You're asking me?" Plagg asked, "Sure, I know the kid, but you should probably ask your Dad about breaking news to a son."

Light pulled out his phone and called his Dad, "Hey, Dad, I know it's early, but I need your help, about Dad stuff." 

_ "Is everything okay with Adrien?" _

"Not exactly. Kira came back last night and killed Adrien's father, basically step-mom, and his childhood friend. He was still close to his friend... I don't know how to tell him what happened. L and I aren't great with emotions, so we're clueless here."

Soichiro was silent on the other side before he started talking, _ "Light... this kind of topic is very difficult. I've had to give it a couple of times to children when their parents are killed, but it's going to be even harder for you since Adrien is your adopted son. Adrien is a bright kid, maybe tell him Kira is back and see if he puts the pieces together on his own. If he doesn't realize within a few minutes, tell him the truth." _

"Okay... but he's going to be grieving."

_ "Give him time to grieve. He's most likely going to be very dedicated to the case, but make sure he still takes care of himself. Take the day to spend time with him—I'll tell the task force what happened." _

"Thanks, Dad." Light said,

_ "I love you, son. Good luck." _ Light hung up and looked to L, 

"So apparently we should tell him the Kira thing, see if he figures it out. If he doesn't, we tell him."

"Sounds like a plan." L held up some strawberry shortcake, "Want some?"

"Actually, I do. I doubt either of us will be sleeping. Might as well just start working on the case."

"Case?" Both former heroes froze to hear Adrien's voice. The boy yawned, "I was about to use the restroom and heard you talking." He got a sparkle in his eyes, and Light's heart hurt, knowing that excitement would die in a few minutes, "Can I help?"

L sighed, "Adrien, sit down. We need to talk to you. This case..."

Adrien sat down, eating some of the cake, "What is it?"

"Kira's back." Light said after a moment, "And his or her first target was terrorists."

"Huh?" Adrien frowned, "But..." his words died when Light showed him the blank scrap of Death Note, 

"There is another Death Note. That of my former Shinigami, Ryuk. Nobody has used the notebook for a year and a half, so L and I weren't worried. So that means there is a Kira out there who I can't control. And again, the first target was terrorists." 

He saw the exact moment Adrien realized what this meant, "You're messing with me, right? Or I'm just overlooking things... K-Kira didn't..." L showed Adrien the article, and both parents watched the color leave Adrien's face.

They expected tears and loud crying. But there was eerie silence from Adrien, other than a choked scream. Then his face grew cold before sighing, "Can you guys just... give me a moment?"

"Sure." L said after a moment, but Adrien was already gone. That was when they heard the shower turn on, and the bawling began.

It was maybe an hour before Adrien came out, his eyes puffy and red from crying. He then sat on the couch—squatting like L—and observing his laptop, 

"The majority of terrorist killings are in France, but also here in Japan. And looking at the Ladyblog, these deaths were reported and got tons of likes. Some people are requesting Kira to kill me next. This copycat Kira may want Ladybug to come back, and that's why they're attacking in France and Japan—since Chat Noir is a Japan resident."

Light and L looked to each other, impressed that he had so quickly come to that deduction, which was a strong lead. 

"So, what do you suggest we do?" Light asked, deciding to follow Adrien's train of thought here.

Adrien looked up, "Well, seeing as the Ladyblog had an article on the deaths before any form of confirmation was even posted, I would say the best course of action is to bring Alya Césaire in for questioning."


	3. Chapter 3

Adrien spent the next week asking Nino to observe Alya's behavior for anything unusual—the detectives were trying to figure out if she was Kira or not, and more importantly if she had Shinigami eyes. Of course, Nino didn't know why Adrien cared about what Alya was doing. 

Misa, who had regained the Shinigami eyes a couple years ago in her quest to help Light bring back L, confirmed that Adrien's name from the eyes was Adrien Lawliet, which gave Adrien a fighting chance, but this did mean that he'd have to hide from the press unless...

"Adrien, this is insane!" L lectured as Adrien was going over the finer details of his plan that could kill him, "We're supposed to throw criminals under the bus when testing theories. Unless you plan to throw your cousin to Kira, you're out of luck unless you're actively suicidal."

Adrien's plan was to go out and do photoshoots with "Misa-Misa," supposedly to show he wasn't afraid of who his father was, and he was still out in the world. And since Misa had such a vast fanbase, that was more supportive people. However, the real plan was to rub it in Kira's face that he couldn't be killed and lure out this copycat in their attempt to get his real name. For the sake of simplicity, Adrien compared this new Kira to Light when it came to intelligence, as a high bar. Though Near had pointed out, even though he didn't know the Lawliet-Kira-Secret, that assuming this Kira was smart was a bold move, given how many dumb Kiras there had been over the years.

A part of Adrien actually hoped this one was smart, that way it would be more satisfying to catch them and bring them to justice.

While Adrien highly doubted Alya was actually the new Kira, there was no denying there was an 87% chance she was the new spokeswoman for Kira. The case was more straightforward since Light was used to being in the Kira mindset, so he could predict things this new Kira would do. 

"Actually..." Light sighed, "I'm with L on this one. What if this new one has the Shinigami eyes? No, you shouldn't risk this."

"Not yet at least," L sat down, "First, we have to see if C-Kira has the eyes. The first step is to have Alya ask that question on her new KiraBlog because technically, Misa-Kira did mention the eyes in one of her recordings to Sakura TV. He then visibly brightened, going to the Miracle Egg, "I have an idea." He pulled out his phone, "Matsuda, how would you like to be useful?"

OoOoO

"So, I get to use a Miraculous!" Matsuda asked excitedly as L handed him the Peacock Miraculous, which had the power to create human-like creatures. This way, Adrien could still appear, but he wouldn't die if C-Kira does have the Shinigami eyes, but they would always be able to make a particular point to C-Kira.

"Yes." L replied, "I trust you to stay out of sight because naturally, everyone would assume you to be another villain like Mayura."

"Don't worry!" Matsuda took the brooch, and Duusu emerged,

"Hello! Wheee!" Duusu flew around, and Matsuda grinned at the little thing, "To transform, you say: Duusu, spread my feathers!"

Matsuda almost squealed, "Duusu! Spead my feathers!" He transformed and looked down at himself in glee. He looked like a male version of Mayura, except his skin wasn't blue. Instead, a blue mask with a pink dot in the center was over his eyes. 

Plume was clearly having the best day of his life, and L coughed,

"Matsuda, create a sentimonster."

"Oh, right." He removed a feather from the fan, filling it with power, "Avatar!" he created a sentimonster using an ordinary ring as the vessel, and the creature looked identical to the model Adrien Agreste. Seeing how much Adrien had changed, it was easier to believe AA was an identical cousin of AL instead of the same person.

Misa looked at the model sentimonster, "So I'm supposed to take this on stage with me. But what if Kira has no interest in killing Adrien?"

"Then we don't have to worry." Light replied simply, "Matsuda, don't get caught."

"I won't!"

OoOoO

It was to the surprise of nobody that Plume was seen by everybody when he sneezed and got the attention of all. Now he was considered Mayura's successor and, therefore, a supervillain. L was relieved that the entire plan hadn't crashed and burned, because Matsuda—clearly to his dismay—did play the role of a villain trying to recruit Hawk Moth's son. 

This would hopefully put Adrien out of danger, even if that had been nowhere close to the original plan. Now the idea was to have the sentimonster start doing things as Adrien to play the part. Thankfully, the Peacock Miraculous wasn't broken, so this wasn't draining for Matsuda.

But they also agreed he wasn't allowed to go on the field anymore, and would instead control the sentimonster from the comfort of the task force headquarters.

Adrien was on the phone with Nino—and it seemed Adrien was a blend of Light and L when it came to investigation style since he was brilliant and zeroed in on suspects quickly, but was also able to question someone in a way that didn't sound case-related.

He was currently talking to Nino about music stuff, and he casually slipped anything in about Alya. When the call ended, Adrien got on the phone again, asking them to bring Alya in for questioning,

"L, can you please as Grandpa Watari to go to France so I can communicate with Alya as A through a computer?"

"Sure. Do you have a lead?"

"Yes. According to Nino, Alya's been very secretive lately, especially about the whole Kira thing—but she still gets information faster than anyone else. I believe she is the spokeswoman for Kira, if not Kira herself. However, if she is the spokeswoman, I suspect she's been given the Shinigami eyes by Ryuk, possibly from Kira, giving her a page of the Death Note."

Light beamed with pride and sat down beside Adrien, "Alright, we'll ask Watari to go down to deliver the laptop and make sure she's blindfolded when questioned."


	4. Chapter 4

When Adrien had been told Alya was ready for questioning, he turned on his headset so he could talk to her, watching through a camera,

"Ms. Césaire, are you okay?"

Alya looked around, but she was blindfolded—not as harshly as Misa had been, but she was still unable to see—"What's this about? Who are you?"

"I am A. You are being questioned under suspicion of being Kira."

"A?! Awesome! Can I get an interview? The identity of the mysterious detective would be a huge scoop!"

"You're just digging a hole for yourself, Miss. You're going to answer my questions, and I will know if you're lying. How did you know about the Kira deaths before anyone else? There wasn't even an official report."

Alya hesitated, and Adrien knew he was onto something. L and Light were watching this unfold, observing their son's first significant interrogation. The other cases he solved had been small, but the Kira Case was something special.

"I got a notice, okay? I got a letter saying those people would die, so naturally, I put it on the blog for the whole world to know."

"A letter..." Adrien bit his thumb, "Does the name Ryuk or the term Shinigami mean anything to you."

Alya was quiet for a moment, "I'm sorry, did you say Shinigami? Like a god of death?"

"Yes."

Alya brightened, "You're saying Shinigami are real!"

Light turned to Adrien, "She didn't answer the question." Adrien nodded and went back to his headset,

"You didn't answer my question." Once again, Alya was quiet. Adrien decided to force her to answer by asking another question, "That letter, do you still have it?"

"No. The instructions said to burn it."

"Tell me exactly what it said."

"I-I don't remember exactly—" L took the headset,

"Ms. Césaire, this is L. Who are you protecting? Obviously, Kira has something over you."

Alya looked up before she started crying, "The letter said I had to act as spokeswoman a-and some other things, or..."

"Or?" Adrien asked.

"Kira would kill my best friend, Marinette! She was imprisoned wrongfully by some guy, and Kira kills criminals, even those with wrongful conviction." 

Light growled a little but kept it in until his eyes widened as he saw Adrien was clearly worried. Light took the headset, "By any chance was the letter on lined paper seemingly from a notebook?" L clearly realized where this was going on and turned to Adrien, who was biting his lip so hard it was bleeding. All three grew pale when Alya's answer was yes.

Adrien gasped quietly, "A-Alya... w-was Marinette's full name on the paper?"

"Why would that matter?" Alya asked. Adrien growled,

"Because if her full name was on the paper, there's a good chance she's _ already dead _ if that paper was what I think it is!" He had to control his breathing, downing Nerds candy-like shots to calm himself down, "Listen. We'll see if Marinette is alright, but you must tell us of any notes from Kira, and do not burn them."

"A-Alright... can I go?"

"You're going to stay under constant surveillance for the weekend," Adrien said, "Just to make sure you aren't Kira. Good day, Miss." He stopped things, "Just to make sure..." he went onto the computer frantically, searching for death records, only to grow silent.

Light looked over his shoulder.

_ 12 French Juvenile Inmates dead in mass suicide. _

"Oh god, oh no." Adrien started looking through names, only to faint when Marinette's name came up. 

L started fanning Adrien's face, and Light was pacing,

"This Kira doesn't fuck around. Even _ I _ didn't go after kids. Which probably means the new Kira is a teenager."

"This isn't America, Light. Unlike American teenagers, where killing each other is borderline the social norm, this is something else entirely."

Light was already on the computer, "Already have a suspect. Lila Rossi, apparently she's a big deal. Supposedly perfect... she sounds like me on the surface with how innocent and perfect she seems to be, but I was Kira, so obviously there's more here. Let me see... can you get Matt? He's better at hacking things than me. I want to go into her cellphone, Marinette's, and Chloe's to see if there is an important reason Lila would want them dead."

"Yeah. I'll call Matt." L pulled out his phone once he got Adrien onto the couch.

An hour later, Adrien had woken up but was still badly shaken.

Light got up when they heard a knock on the door while L had given Adrien some comfort food—because when in doubt, food. 

L whirled around when he heard Light scream and heard glass breaking as Light was launched down to the first floor of their penthouse, tumbling down the stairs and landing at the bottom.

"Light!" Both Adrien and L shouted, transforming into Ladybug and Chat Noir, respectively, as at least five monk-people walked in, speaking in Chinese. From what both heroes gathered, they were here to get the Miracle Box and get revenge on Lightbringer for making Marinette become a target for Kira. Cue much groaning from Chat Noir because, of course, these monks only cared about Marinette when he had been helping bring them back too. 

Chat Noir ran down to Light while Ladybug defended the Miracle Egg and showed surprising strength for someone so thin.

"Light!" Chat Noir shook his adopted Dad and noticed blood was pouring from Light's temple, and he wasn't responding. He was severely hurt, that much was obvious, with pieces of glass in his back. 

One of the monks had Ladybug pinned to the wall by the throat and was slowly choking him out, while two others came down, using some sort of magic, probably to finish Light off...

Chat Noir frantically called Misa, "Aunt Misa! Help! We need your eyes and notebook!" 

See, since Misa had the eyes, she had to keep the Death Note remains in her care, so it now looked like more a Death Sketchpad than anything since Light had removed part of the cover to create his watch to keep his memory.

Now, Misa actually had the Mouse Miraculous in her possession—for the sake of situations exactly like this. So she arrived in two minutes. At this point, Chat was almost overpowered while trying to protect the box and Light, while Ladybug had passed out from asphyxiation. 

And suddenly their attackers burst into flames as Mouse—for lack of better name—jumped in, Death Note in hand. 

Chat started crying, running and hugging her, "Aunt Misa!"

"I'm right here, Adrien, it's okay." They broke apart, and her eyes widened, "Light!" She detransformed and whipped out her phone, calling for an ambulance. The paramedics came, seeing the broken window and L and Light injured badly, with their adopted son frightened and holding onto his aunt.

"Please, guys..." Adrien begged, "Please be okay."


	5. Chapter 5

In the hospital, Adrien was pacing worriedly, waiting for a verdict. L had been confirmed to live, and he'd woken up already—with one hell of a sore throat, and he couldn't speak at the moment.

The doctor came in, "Adrien?"

"Yeah. Is Light okay?"

The doctor fidgeted with his clipboard, "He could be worse. There was thankfully little to no swelling in his brain, just a bad concussion, and skull fractures. His spine also took damage but should be okay with bed rest. He also snapped his wrist. But he will live. He's awake, but has a bad migraine and is a little out of it."

"Thank you," Misa said somberly, "When will they both be discharged?"

"A couple days, give or take."

"Okay, that's not too bad." Adrien said to himself, and as the doctor left, he sighed, "Aunt Misa...Aunt Rem... I want to make the eye deal. Can I do that without being an owner of a notebook?"

"What?!" Both Misa and Rem asked, "Why would you want to—"

"Because what if you had been a minute later? They would both be dead! And I was helpless to stop it. Besides, half of my lifespan... I wouldn't have any life at all without them, so it seems fair. Besides, Misa, you've done it twice."

"Adrien, that's different."

"Is it, though?" Misa didn't have a response, so Rem spoke up,

"Adrien, you cannot make the eye deal if you are not an owner of the notebook."

"Damn." He crossed his arms, just as Near, Watari, and Matt ran in. 

"What happened?!" All three asked, and Adrien sighed,

"Some creepy monks came and tried to kill Light for getting my former partner arrested...and making her a target for Kira. Then there is the fact we have the Miracle Box. But I... took care of them."

"I take it you used cataclysm and disintegrated them?" Near said, and Adrien nodded,

"I could do it if I got all of them in a group and then used the one cataclysm I get. It's harder, and we nearly lost Ryuzaki and Light because of it." He sighed, just in time for Soichiro to hug him,

"At least you're safe, and both Ryuzaki and Light are confirmed to live. I'm sorry to hear about your partner."

"It's... okay. We have a lead because of it. So now we're bringing Lila Rossi in for questioning after Matt hacks into the phones of her, Chloe Bourgeois, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Matt was already on his computer, "Done—oh, hello." Adrien looked over Matt's shoulder and blanched, seeing Lila was threatening Marinette about making her lose all her friends and such, and very clearly lying to Chloe. There was even one that made Adrien laugh out loud.

**Lila:** I hear you're working with Hawk Moth. You know, L is my uncle, so you better behave, or I'll call him.

The entire team laughed, and Misa giggled,

"I don't need to be a detective to know she's already a prime suspect."

Adrien shuddered, "I've seen firsthand how bad she is. I feel like an idiot for not suspecting her sooner. She's one of the only people I know of with motivation to kill Marinette—then again, I didn't know Marinette was my personal stalker, so maybe she does have enemies?"

Near was on another laptop, and it was an unspoken agreement among them that they were using the case to distract themselves from the condition of L and Light.

"Time to bring her in for questioning?" Watari asked after an hour, in which they had noticed a trail of suicides followed Lila wherever she went. Maybe it wasn't Ryuk's notebook if Lila had a track record like this. Perhaps Lila had had her own Death Note for a while... or she was just that much of a sadistic bitch.

Near smiled—a disturbing sight—and turned to Adrien, "You know, Lila is not going to answer truthfully during an investigation. We could hook her up to a lie detector, but she might know how to get around that. Instead... I have a better idea."

"Oh?" 

"See, I have a reputation of... cheating... to solve cases," the entire task force winced at this truth. He always got the answer right, but his methods would technically be considered cheating. This was also why he was no longer allowed to participate in Friday Poker Night. But when Adrien thought about it... Near might be the perfect person to take down Lila because of this. Fight fire with fire.

"So, I propose we attempt to interrogate, point out she was lying, confine her for fifty days, and then have me handcuffed to her until further notice."

"Why you?" Aizawa asked, and Near played with a strand of his hair,

"I'm the only one here other than Adrien who can pass for a fifteen-year-old. Meaning I could go to school with her."

Adrien turned, "Wait, you're not fifteen? That explains so much."

"I'm twenty-one. But the fact I do still look to be a teenager would help in this investigation."

Watari nodded, "I will go back to France and bring her in for questioning. Should I blindfold her?"

"Yes. But maybe a little more...forceful... than with Alya." Adrien said, "Now that I think about it, it would explain  _ a lot _ if she has Shinigami eyes since she supposedly," he suddenly had a sarcastic tone, "has short-term memory loss, but remembers all our names."

Near looked at a picture of Lila on the computer, "Well, Lila, this should be interesting."

OoOoO

Back at the penthouse, the window Misa had busted open was repaired, and Light was on bedrest in his room, with the lights off and the windows shut. Even the slightest bit of brightness or even too much water made him vomit.

L was on the couch, having regained his speech, but he still had nasty bruises on his neck,

"So, you all planned the whole investigation in a way that probably involves crimes against humanity?" He wiped away a tear, "I'm so proud."

"Oh, I also want you to be the first to talk to her," Adrien said, "She's been telling people you're her uncle." L laughed,

"I'm an only child in all senses, so that is impossible."

"Exactly." Adrien smirked a little, "This is why my inner sadism thinks it would be hilarious to use the highest tech lie detector ever and record this interrogation for the whole school to see—but I digress, that's personal feelings getting involved."

"No, I like that plan," L said, "Everything except showing the interrogation. I want to see what Ms. Rossi would do if I exposed her as a liar while she's handcuffed to Near."

"Is this before or after fifty days of confinement?"

"We need to find out if she has a notebook." Rem pointed out, "After what Ryuk did, it is possible other Shinigami saw 'Kira' as a way to relieve boredom."

"That's not good," Matsuda shuddered, looking to Duusu, "But on the bright side, that means more time being a Miraculous wielder!"

Duusu made loud noises, flying around gleefully in circles, and L sighed,

"Perhaps giving him the Peacock was a bad idea."


	6. Chapter 6

As predicted, Lila failed the interrogation in a colossal landslide. L was now 80% sure that she was Kira.

Which was why Lila was now in confinement. He had explained to the task force that he had learned that the thirteen-day rule had a loophole where renouncing ownership saved you from that rule. This lie was to protect Light, but there was no way to prove otherwise that the others would be okay with it. And even then, only he had ever suspected Light, and since he had Near working alongside him—and Near knew firsthand how loyal Light was to L and therefore couldn't be Kira—there wasn't going to be a sudden uprising of the successors.

This was also why he was only confining her for ten days. Adrien was watching her always, observing, while Watari went to France in secret to search all of Lila's belongings anywhere she could possibly put it, looking for a Death Note.

But they were all unaware of Adrien's much darker plan if she did turn out to have a Death Note, the one where he killed Lila with the Death Note, transferring ownership to him in secret, so he could make a deal with either the Shinigami of the notebook or just Rem for the eyes. 

_"Adrien, you have to understand that the Death Note is very addicting. I didn't realize what a problem I had until L was back to help me out of it. If you start, it's tough to stop."_

He knew this, but he also didn't care. Marinette would probably call him a reckless, simple-minded idiot, letting emotions get the better of him—oh damn, looking back, he wondered how the hell he had stayed in love with her—but she wasn't here right now, was she? She had been killed by Kira. He was still connected to her in a sense because she was his Ladybug. He was willing to do anything to protect his new family and avenge the deaths of his old one.

If that meant giving up half his lifespan, then so be it.

In a sense, he understood how L had felt with his theory so long ago that Light was Kira—before they fell in love obviously—very much wanting the suspect to be the culprit.

It was a week before Light even tried to leave his room when all the lights were dimmed. He had bandage wrap around his head and needed a cane so he wouldn't fall over even though he still saw double. The concussion was so bad that he was unable to form a coherent sentence. 

Misa helped him use a sleep mask filled with ice, placing it on his eyes. Oddly enough, that helped with the migraine. 

Watari came in, "I didn't find one, but the last Kiras were clever, so she might know a place."

"Well," Light looked up, "We might be able to ask Ryuk."

"How?" Aizawa asked, "I'm assuming Ryuk is the Shinigami of another notebook."

"Yes," Rem explained, "Ryuk is the original Kira's Shinigami, and it is likely this new Kira found his lost notebook, which I have been unable to find for nearly two years."

"But how would we call him?" Soichiro asked, and Rem shrugged,

"A crate of apples should suffice. However, only I will be able to see him since none of you have touched his Death Note." Adrien knew that Light and Misa had, but it wasn't like they would say anything.

"Alright," Soichiro said, "But are we sure he will come?"

"If I know anything about Ryuk, it's that he will travel across the whole world to find apples."

OoOoO

Rem was right on the money, and Adrien watched in amazement as all the apples started vanishing. He then transformed so he could use Plagg's power to see and hear Ryuk, and he staggered back a little in surprise.

Ryuk turned to face him, "Oh? You're like Light, I see." Chat Noir nodded,

"Ryuk, I wish to speak to you alone. For the purposes of the investigation. I will give you all the apples you could want in exchange for this."

Ryuk brightened, "Well then, let's get going!" He started flying off, and Chat Noir followed at a sprint.

Once they were alone and the pace had slowed from a run to a brisk walk, Chat Noir looked up at the Shinigami, "Who owns your Death Note?" He then noticed the notebook at Ryuk's hip, "Wait..."

"Oh, I have three Death Notes. This is mine, and there are two others in the human world."

"Two?!" Chat Noir ran his hands through his hair, "Oh, wow. That's already more than I expected." He handed Ryuk an apple for the information as he got an idea, "Which of the two is active?"

"The one I dropped about a year before Light's. Look, this is making things boring, I don't see a reason besides apples to do this."

Chat Noir put a finger up, "I'm getting there. Where is the one Light buried years ago?"

"Still there, last I checked. Can you cut to the chase already?"

"Take me there, and I will show you how interesting things will get."

Ryuk grinned a little, seeming to get an idea of where this was going, "Are you trying to follow in the footsteps of Light?"

"Not quite. But close." He followed Ryuk to the clearing, where he dug up the box containing the Death Note and gasped as he became the owner, feeling a rush of power through him, intensified by being the Cat Miraculous wielder, "Ryuk, I want to make the eye deal. Don't refuse, and I will give you apples without any condition from now on."

That caught the Shinigami's interest, "Oh? This is _ very _ interesting, especially if you're planning to hide this negotiation from your dear Dads. And I have no plans of stopping this, especially with promise of free apples involved."

"I am planning to hide it."

"Well, I probably should have warned you that your eyes turn red while transformed when you are a Death Note owner."

"Shit. How do I get out of that?"

Ryuk laughed, "That's for you to find out, and even if apples are free now, you owe me a crate of them for every time I have to visit because I need to fly from France to here to manage two Death Notes."

Chat Noir brightened, "So the new Kira is in France... thanks, Ryuk." Ryuk flew away, munching on another apple as he went, and Chat Noir detransformed, glad he had been wearing a hoodie and a beanie to hide his identity. He put the Death Note under his shirt and walked back to the task force headquarters, glad that he wouldn't need to do training for a while. He did worry how long he could keep up the lie since he lived with the greatest detectives in the world, but if Light could fool everyone for years, Adrien could too. 

He remembered what Misa had said about Death Note owners not having a visible lifespan, so he quickly walked back home and observed Lila again, frowning when he was able to see her lifespan.

L walked in, "Adrien? Did you learn anything valuable?"

"Yes. The Death Note is in France, but Lila Rossi is at least not currently Kira. But it's odd. She hasn't been acting differently."

"Maybe she forfeit ownership, but really is this cold-blooded," Aizawa pointed out, "I've been looking through records, and the suicide rates wherever she goes are unlike anything I've ever seen if Kira isn't involved."

Adrien nodded, "And that's why I think Near should still be handcuffed to her. Have the killings continued?"

"At a slower rate, but yes." This caused Adrien to bite his lip,

"I was thinking... Ryuk implied there were other Death Notes in the human world. And Rem also stated it wasn't impossible."

"Normally I would say it's doubtful," Rem said, "But after the incident with Kira years ago, other Shinigami may see this as a cure for boredom. Luckily, only six can be active at one time, and the seventh won't work.

Adrien counted. His own, Light/Misa's, Kira's, and potentially second Kira's Death Note. _Oh no..._

"That means we could have four more on our hands," L stated, "So we need to find out if Lila has forfeit ownership. Either way, she's going to prison, but the charges could be different."

Matt looked up, "Well, looking at the cameras we placed in her room, she has a ton of things that have been reported stolen in other places, and she's committed fraud, using photoshop to create images of her in relationships with celebrities. I don't know if that's a crime, but it's creepy."

"Agreed." Adrien nodded, "So, Near, are you ready to have your morals pushed to the limit in the form of not strangling Lila Rossi?"

Near looked up from where he was playing with his action figures, "I suppose I am. But you're going to need to coach me on interacting with... people."

"Near, stop being me." L snapped at him, and Near rolled his eyes.

Adrien looked up, "Alright, so we'll let Lila out in the morning, and she and Near will go continue life like normal in Paris."

"We will need an alias for you," L pointed out, "Because using your real name is a terrible idea."

"Miheal Keehl," Near said, uncharacteristically somber. L recognized where that name came from, as did Matt—Matt especially,

"Alright, then." L looked to his adopted son, "Goodnight, Adrien."

"Goodnight." Adrien grinned to everyone, walking upstairs and quietly going to see Light, kissing his forehead, "Goodnight, Light," he whispered, "Ryuk says hi."

"Hm?" Light turned to him, and Adrien just shrugged, 

"It's okay, go back to sleep and focus on getting better." He left, and moved quickly to his room, locking the door and removing the Death Note, examining it and taking time to read all the rules, and saw that after 490 days without writing a name, he would lose ownership.

_Damn. I really do have to write names in this thing._

Plagg emerged, "Kid, you shouldn't hide this from Light and L. What are they going to do? Take the notebook from you? Because you already made the eye deal, taking the Death Note would only hurt you. And Light will be able to help you just in case you do start..."

"I'll be fine, Plagg. I just need to solve this case in less than 490 days, and I won't have a problem. Worst case, I follow the MO of Kira to avoid suspicion. But I'm hiding this from them because I don't want to risk them, locking me up for my own 'protection' like my father did. Can you imagine what would happen if my father was still my guardian and I had forfeit half of my lifespan?"

Plagg shuddered at the thought, "You've got a point. But, Adrien, the Death Note corrupts people if you're not careful."

"Well, as you've said, it's too late now." He walked to his little box of things that he'd kept from the Agreste Mansion. He was the only one who knew the combination, which involved all the buttons in a particular order, so only he could open it since he hadn't told anyone the code.

He placed the Death Note at the bottom. Then he realized Misa would know immediately since she would no longer be able to see his lifespan.

He then ran downstairs, "Aunt Misa, can I talk to you for a second?"

This was the first time Misa had gotten a good look at his face since he made the deal, and her eyes widened, "Uh... sure." She went up, and once they were alone in his room, she was shaking, "You made the eye deal. How?"

"Ryuk had another Death Note then the one Kira is using. I used it to make the eye deal, to protect my family from the monks, and to see who has ownership. It's a good skill to have as a detective. And I know I gave up half my lifespan. But I'm trying to not like L and Light know what I did, just in case they take it the wrong way and try to protect me."

Misa sighed, "Ever since Light... changed for the better, he's been worried about me too. But he doesn't restrict me."

"But I'm his adopted son."

"You have a point. But you understand I would be betraying Light to not tell him you have a Death Note,"

"I don't care if you tell him I have a notebook. Just don't tell them about the eyes. Please?"

Misa sighed, "Fine. But you have to promise me you will tell them after the case." Adrien did pinky-promise with her,

"I promise," he hugged her, "You're the best!"

He could feel Misa's saddened expression while hugging him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrien has a Death Note and the Shinigami eyes and wants to hide it from Light and L, and Near is off to Paris with Lila and needs to interact with Adrien's former peers. That's a recipe for disaster.
> 
> Also, the reason Ryuk has another Death Note is something from the Pilot Manga, which seems to take place a year before the series in which Ryuk dropped another notebook, and that person who found it ended up keeping it as shown in the epilogue that shows Ryuk and [insert name here because I won't say due to the name being potentially important] talking about what had happened with the Light craziness even if his name isn't directly stated and [blank] still had their notebook. This manga was also featuring some neat little things I might bring up.
> 
> Adrien's inner monologue color is chartreuse


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I was listening to the Death Note Musical for the 80th time this week, as you do, and I was listening to Misa's song "Borrowed Time," and realized that the dynamic of canon Ladybug and Chat Noir is the same as canon Light and Misa. Seriously, go listen to the song and imagine Chat singing it, it's easy, and we know Ladybug doesn't give a damn about her partner.
> 
> And Adrien's a model...
> 
> Okay, now I have the idea in my head of Marinette as Light and Adrien as Misa, but who would be L? Luka? 
> 
> One comment = one prayer for my weird brain

Adrien had been writing names in the notebook when he had realized a severe problem.

The task force knew about Kuroneko having red eyes, and occasionally changing to green. It meant having possession over the Death Note, which only L, Light, and Misa knew for fact. But if suddenly Chat Noir's eyes were also red, and someone found out or suspected the Death Note was in his possession, he could damn both himself and Light to the gallows.

If he hadn't traded away half his lifespan for the eyes, he would have given up the Death Note then and there. He supposed he could lie and say red eyes symbolized a change in personality, but Near was alarmingly brilliant and might figure out the truth, and Adrien wasn't sure Near would keep the secret.

He turned to Plagg, "Plagg, is there a way to conceal the red in my eyes as Chat?" Plagg shrugged,

"I've never tried it. But if you want to transform and test it out, consciously think about not having red eyes and see what happens."

"Claws out." He transformed and looked in the mirror, dismayed that his eyes were still red. Maybe it's because he had the Shinigami eyes.

But this meant he might have to give up the Cat Miraculous to save Light and himself from execution, and that might look suspicious too.

He went to hide the notebook, sick with himself, that he didn't feel any guilt for the lives he had taken. However, he had been using Death Row Inmates—L's favorite resource, and Adrien had to admit that for the sake of maintaining ownership of the notebook, they were beneficial—because they were already maltreated to the point a swift demise was mercy.

However, he hadn't put it away wholly when Duusu phased through the door, "Oh! What's that? Can I see it?"

"No." Adrien said quickly, "It's my diary." Duusu started crying for a moment, before brightening,

"Matsuda wants to train with you!" Shit. At least he could tell Matsuda that the red eyes symbolized determination... actually that could work. Light was nothing if not determined during the time his eyes were red. Perfect! And the fact people close to him were dead at Kira's hand would support that. 

But that did mean he would have to have a serious talk with his Dads about this. He had no doubt both would insist he renounce the notebook before he fell down the rabbit hole, and he would need to explain the Shinigami eyes—which neither would be happy about.

But if he refused Matsuda, that was also suspicious. How had Light kept up the facade for years when Adrien couldn't keep it up for a day?! Well, he did have the two greatest detectives in the world as his Dads, maybe he should have thought of that. Then again, Ryuk hadn't given him that little tidbit about the red eyes while transformed until the deal was already made.

He sighed, leaving his room, plastering on a grin to hide the knots in his stomach, "Hey Matsu!" 

Matsuda returned the smile, "Hey, I was thinking you, and I could train together, take our minds off the case. And I'd like to learn from a master," he winked playfully, and Adrien chuckled genuinely,

"Alright, let's go."

They walked to the roof, and both he and Matsuda transformed. If anyone who didn't know the Miraculous secret would just think it was hero and villain battling. Plume stared at Chat Noir's eyes,

"Your eyes..."

"Are they red? Yeah, Plagg mentioned it was a side effect of extreme determination." Plume frowned,

"But, wouldn't Light have been determined during the time he was on the run?"

"He also had his spirit broken at the time, feeling betrayed, so naturally, he didn't have the same fire." That was enough to make Plume believe him, and he whipped out the fan. Chat Noir grinned, running at him,

They sparred for a bit until it reached a point that Chat Noir flashed back to Mayura—to Nathalie—and fell over, eyes wide. Plume looked down at him worriedly,

"Adrien? Are you okay?"

"Plume, remember to use our aliases while transformed." He sat up, "Sorry, I just got a Mayura flashback, you were using similar fighting moves like her. That's good for your training progress because she was actually kind of awesome, but that just brought up lots of memories." 

Plume sat down next to him on the very edge of the tower, looking at the city. Chat Noir remembered what his father had told him that one time he'd visited in prison, saying his mother was a former Peacock wielder. What was she like? It didn't matter now. She had been announced brain dead, and a couple days off life support had her flatlining, to which Adrien had been taken away by his Aunt Amelie, and picked up mere days later by Light and L.

"Well, this whole thing with the Miraculous is going to bring back memories," Plume said, "We're all here for you, Chat." He brightened, "Hey, a new bakery opened on the edge of town." He jumped up, "Race you there." He dropped down the tower and broke into a sprint, and Chat laughed, chasing after him, laughing as Plume occasionally intentionally ran close to him, and took another route, like he was playing.

Chat Noir laughed as he ran through the city.

OoOoO

Near had always been a perfect student—quiet, brilliant, paying attention, still getting a reasonable amount of sleep—but right now, he was about to fall asleep from sheer boredom and frustration.

This class was so far behind from Akuma attacks that they hadn't made it through pretty much anything, and Near knew all the answers already, and it was so easy it hurt. At Wammy's House, the classes still weren't hard, but they were always interesting. This teacher, Miss Bustier, clearly didn't know how to do her job, because one word out of Lila's mouth had the subject changing to another 'exciting' made-up adventure. In reality, it was all dull to Near, but the class drank it up even though half of the things she claimed was impossible. And it was getting him nowhere in the case, other than the fact Lila was a pathological liar.

No matter how stoic he usually was, he was on the brink of banging his head against the table repeatedly at these insults to natural selection that was Adrien's class. With Marinette dead, everyone worshipped Lila. Near hadn't thought it possible for someone to be dumber than Matsuda, but Matsuda would look like a genius in comparison to these _ morons _. 

He supposed maybe he wasn't fair to them, because he had grown accustomed to always being around brilliant minds, and he was secretly much older than them. But as far as he could tell, the only redeeming qualities of these people was their social skills.

Then again, they believed Lila's lies that could be disproven with a google search.

Alya was a crying mess over the death of her best friend, but she was still working as the spokeswoman for the new Kira. This was probably because she didn't want to risk other people she cared about getting hurt, or maybe she cared more about the "scoop" than anything else. Or perhaps both, not that she bothered to fact check anything, otherwise she would have learned of Marinette's death long before being told by the detectives.

When class was over, Near was curious about how Lila's personality would change when they were alone together. The school knew Lila was a suspect, not that any of them believed it could possibly be true—the principal was so dumb it was physically painful to Near. Thankfully, in three days, the detectives would sent footage proving Lila was a liar and had been threatening people to get her way, as well as the suicides wherever she went.

Nino, the least stupid of the class, ran over to them, "Miheal!" Near turned, remembering he was using the name of his fallen companion as his alias. He had only learned Mello's real name after his death, but it came in handy here. Besides, there was already a Nate in this class.

"Yes, Nino?"

"I was wondering if you and Lila wanted to come to Alya's birthday party this weekend." Lila beamed,

"I would love to, Nino. Miheal, that means you're coming too." Near sighed,

"How many people will be there?"

"The whole school, why?" Again, a sigh from Near. That was way too many people for his liking. And while, yes, he could use this time to investigate, parties sounded loud and obnoxious. Though maybe he could play the video of exposing Lila at the party...

He forced on a shy smile, "I'd love to go."

_ This better help the investigation. _


	8. Chapter 8

L had been sitting with Light in the bedroom, doing anything he could to help his husband's pain. He remembered how Light had done everything he could for him when he had been recovering from the weakness of revival and the agony in his abdomen, rendering walking excruciating. Light hadn't even tried to leave his side once, giving him as much cake and Advil as he needed.

He gently helped Light swallow some more painkillers, hoping he would be able to keep them down this time. But it had been nearly two weeks, so hopefully, he would feel better soon.

He held up some water for Light, "Drink," Light obeyed but pointed out the window. It was nighttime, so the window was open to helping him adjust to the brightness. It reminded L of what Light described as his way of assisting Misa to regain her vision after confinement.

"Adrien..." Light whispered, needing to close his eyes again. L turned and blanched at the sight of Adrien jumping back to the roof, but his eyes were red.

"Oh no. Light, we need to talk to him." But Light was already asleep. L sighed, knowing it would take three months for him to heal.

L knew the moment Adrien gained possession of a Death Note. It was when he went off with Ryuk. How had he not seen this coming?

He kissed Light's forehead, "Just rest, I'll bring Adrien in here." He walked out of the bedroom and saw Adrien and Matsuda detransform, holding pastries. He put on a soft expression because Matsuda was there, but the look in his eyes made it clear he was pissed—and Adrien was the only one who noticed that, and knew he was in trouble.

"Adrien, I need to discuss something with you. I have a potential lead on the case, but I wish to discuss it with you before telling the rest of the task force." Adrien hesitated, putting the sweets down and pulling out a cake,

"O-Okay..." he left with L, and once they were alone, held out the cake, "Peace offering?"

"So you know Light and I know you have a Death Note." He still took the cake and started eating it, because he was rarely going to refuse sweets. Didn't mean he wasn't pissed. 

By the time they got back, the Advil had kicked in, and Light was awake, glaring at Adrien, "How many names?"

Adrien sat down, "Only ten, just enough to maintain ownership." Light sighed,

"Adrien, I told you how addicting that power is, and you realize you could have easily screwed us both over, right?"

"I already told Matsuda that the eye change is due to determination, which would make sense since you either wanted to rule the world or bring L back. For me, it could be a desire to solve the case and avenge those I cared about."

"And when the case is solved?" L asked with crossed arms, "We will have no choice but to confiscate the notebook or the ring permanently. And seeing as I know how close you are to Plagg, you know which we will take away."

Adrien's eyes widened, and L noticed it was fear, guilt, and resignation.

"I can't lose either. Plagg is my closest friend... and the Death Note..." It was Light who realized what had happened.

"You made the eye deal, and losing the Death Note means you'll have lost half your lifespan for nothing."

Adrien started crying, his thin shoulders shaking, "I-I'm sorry," his tears turned to full-on sobs, "I wanted to h-help...but I just made things worse. I'm no genius. M-Marinette was right, I'm just an idiot."

L nodded to himself, looking for anything they could do to fix this mess. He pondered his options, before looking to Light, "Light, maybe we can use the wish. Give up a quarter of our lifespans to return Adrien's to normal."

"W-What?" Adrien asked worriedly, and Light put a finger to his chin,

"Well, the other option is getting a Shinigami to sacrifice themself for him, so he would get the Shinigami's lifespan. I suppose Rem would do that..."

"Explain please," Adrien was clearly curious, and wondering why Rem was getting involved, so Light explained,

"See, Shinigami are meant to take lives, so if one kills a person, which saves the life of another, the Shinigami will die, and their lifespan will transfer to the one they saved. A Shinigami saved Misa this way, and that's how she got the Death Note to begin with, and why she can half her lifespan twice—she already had an abnormally long lifespan."

"So that's why she said it was different for her..."

"Wait, Misa knew about this?!" L growled, and Adrien bit his lip,

"I asked about the eyes after you guys got attacked. She knows I have a notebook now, but doesn't know I have the eyes. I asked her to wait and let me tell you myself when the Death Note is concerned."

Light got up, stumbling a little, "I'll get the earrings."

"Wait, no!" Adrien grabbed his hand, "I was trying to help you, not have you give up part of your own lifespan!"

"Don't you get it, Adrien?!" Light shouted, which startled both L and Adrien, "We both are going to be imprisoned and executed if we _ don't _ do this, and L won't be able to do a damn thing about it! Not only will we both be hanged, but L's reputation will also be ruined, having married one Kira and adopted another. All of our lives will be destroyed." He ripped the ring off Adrien's finger, "You'll get this back after I find a way to fix this mess. You should have talked to us before doing this." He took a step out of the room, wincing as he went into the living room.

L followed him, noticing Adrien run to his room in tears, "Light, maybe you were a little harsh." He knew Light was in a lot of pain, and the stress of his secret being possibly revealed ought to stress him out.

To his surprise, Light sighed, "I know. I can't believe he would throw away his own life like that. It's like Misa all over again, only this time there's no Shinigami willing to sacrifice. If it weren't for that damn eye thing with the transformation, then this wouldn't be too much of a problem, and we would have more time to fix this, but if Near finds out, its only a matter of time before everything is ruined. Once the Kira case is solved, it's over for us unless we can fix this eye thing."

Plagg emerged when Light slipped the ring onto his own finger, "Light, you need to lay down, your head—"

"Shut it, Plagg! You knew Adrien had a Death Note, and didn't think to give us a heads up he was thinking about doing that?!"

"I knew he _ wanted _ to," Plagg retorted, "But I didn't think Ryuk would have another notebook. Besides, by the time he detransformed, he had already made the eye deal. Maybe look in the grimoire for a concealment spell? As the new guardians, you two can read it. It won't help with Adrien's halved lifespan, but it will make sure you two are safe, and it gives you more time to figure out a solution. I'm not even sure you two can make another wish, having made one before."

Tikki appeared when L put in the earrings. They hadn't brought her out yet, unsure how she would react to hearing her former owner had gotten her most recent owner arrested and killed by Kira.

They explained everything to the Ladybug kwami, who was reasonably angry because this was the _ second time _ Light had stolen the earrings from a Ladybug that wasn't L.

"So, Adrien made the eye deal, and you need to find a way to save his life and make sure this doesn't screw everyone else over." L nodded,

"Pretty much. Oh, Tikki, can you please heal Light's head, so he doesn't pass out." Tikki obeyed, and Light smiled as the pain left him. Then he smirked a little,

"Tikki, as the kwami of creation, could _ you _ restore Adrien's lifespan?" Tikki pondered this,

"I think I can, but it will take time. Restoring years to someone is a gradual process, so I may need to stay with him for weeks or even months." Light and L both sighed in relief,

"So we can tell the task force he's practicing with another Miraculous just in case something happens to the Cat, and once you're done, we can take the Death Note from him and remove the eyes."

"Alright." Light sighed, grabbing some coffee, "Ryuk and I are going to have a serious talk later as well."

L smiled, kissing Light's cheek, relief washing over them both now that they had a solution, "I'm glad your head is better. Should we check on Near? I'm quite sure he's miserable right now."

"Not quite. I need to talk to Adrien. I'm worried I might have reminded him of his own father, and need to set things right." L sighed, eating his cake,

"I'll meet you out here. Tell Adrien he's welcome to join us if he's not tired."

...

Adrien sobbed in his bedroom. He'd screwed up this time, and Light probably regretted ever adopting him. Marinette was right. He was simple-minded and let his emotions override logic, and he had no right to be a detective.

He heard a knock on the door, and Light came in, "Adrien?" Adrien looked up as Light closed the door, "Hey, I'm sorry I shouted, I was just freaked out. But L and I were talking to Tikki. If you use the earrings for a couple weeks or months, she can restore your lifespan. I'll wear the ring, so you can still talk to Plagg. Once your lifespan is back to normal, we can burn the Death Note in secret."

"I understand why you're mad. I didn't know about the eye change until it was too late, and assumed the red eyes in pictures was a conscious choice on your part. I should have asked you about it first. I just wanted to help you guys, and repay you. If Misa had been too late..."

He saw a look of understanding dawn on Light, "This isn't about the investigation. It's about those monks." He softened, "Adrien, thank you for thinking of us, and this plan would have worked if not for the glaring weakness of the Cat Miraculous. Just talk to me before you throw away your life." He put the earrings in Adrien's ears, and the boy hugged him, crying, and Light smiled, "Where's the notebook?" 

"I-In my trunk." They broke the hug, and Adrien unlocked the trunk, revealing he had built a secret bottom to the chest that nobody would notice and showed the notebook. Light chuckled,

"You're a lot more like me than I expected." He took the Death Note, "So you don't get tempted, I'm going to take this."

"No." Adrien took the notebook back, "I don't want to risk you getting tempted. I know you still look at the scrap in your watch. Besides, you aren't aware of the password to my trunk. It's safer with me than with you. You said so yourself that it's addicting, and you had it for years, and I've had it for two days."

"I suppose you're right, but can we agree that I am going to limit you to ten criminals per week, and you must show me the notebook every Saturday. We're going to be careful about this. During the case, your determination lie makes sense, and your eyes will be invaluable. After the case, you will lose the eyes, but if you want, I can create a watch out of this notebook too so you can retain your memory."

Adrien smiled, hugging him again, "Thanks, Dad."

Light was taken aback by the title, but smiled anyway, "Come on, let's go check on Near. He's probably banging his head against a wall by now, and he should be done with lunch." Adrien remembered the eight hour time difference, and winced at the fact Near would have had to suffer through a class with Lila, and there was no Marinette or Chloe to call her out.

"Let's hope Near hasn't somehow had an aneurysm from pure frustration yet."

Both Light and Adrien laughed,while Tikki and Plagg smiled from where they sat at the desk.


	9. Chapter 9

Near sat next to the shower as Lila washed. Showering together was a step too far, especially considered how much older than her he was. But he had to be in here to make sure there wasn't some secret drawer in the bathroom. 

"Do you really have to be in here?" Lila snapped, "Because obviously murdering people while I shower is my favorite activity,"

"Might be murderous shampoo," Near deadpanned dryly, currently in a heated debate with himself about whether homicide or suicide was the better option. But he quickly realized this was a mental argument he could not win. Maybe this was how Lila caused over a hundred suicides. By annoying them until they couldn't take it anymore, "Just pretend I'm not here."

"You better not be checking out my ass, Miheal."

"How can I do that if I'm not here?"

"Good point." She finished washing and wrapped a towel around herself, gesturing that it was his turn. No matter how much he hated her, getting naked in front of someone was an awkward experience. Sure, he'd been walked in on by his former roommate multiple times back at Wammy's, but that was different.

Unlike Lila, who took forty-five minutes, Near only took three, just enough to wash his hair and body, before hopping out and immediately throwing on some boxers. 

He remembered back when L was revived, and he spent a while handcuffed to Light, to be sure he wasn't Kira—which didn't seem necessary in Near's opinion since Kira wouldn't bring back the one who could defeat him. They had been able to do it since Near was pretty sure they spent the majority of that time damaging the mattress springs. 

Just thinking about that night that L came back made him subconsciously put his hands over his ears, where there were still scars from Kuroneko ripping the earrings out. It hadn't taken overly long to heal, but he sometimes had nightmares about that moment, even if he wouldn't admit it to anyone. Typically, it was easy to hide, unless Light lost his temper for whatever reason, then Near was shamelessly hiding behind either Watari, Soichiro, or L.

Lila noticed from where she was drying her hair, "It's not that loud, Miheal, get over it." 

"Yeah, well, it's annoying," he snapped, forcing himself to change into regular teenage attire instead of the comfortable basically-pajamas that he usually wore. 

Now, he had on a plain black shirt under a sky blue jacket with a navy blue hoodie, navy blue jeans, and white sneakers. He looked like a completely different person and sighed as Lila went all out on the makeup. They had to go to this party, and he wanted to just get it over with, but now he would have to sit here and deal with her.

He held his robot toy and played with it while he waited, knowing Lila was looking at him judgementally. 

"What's with you and toys?"

"Helps my thought process," he replied simply. In truth, he had the least harmful of the addictions children at Wammy's develop. Matt, one time joked Wammy's House of Addictions was a more accurate title. Near couldn't go anywhere without a toy, Matt had to be continually smoking, Mello couldn't function without chocolate, and L spent his entire life before dating Light eating nothing but sugar. Light had been working healthier options into L's diet slowly, but it was working.

From what Near had gathered, Lila renounced ownership of the notebook if she ever had one to begin with. Her lies had originated as a desire for attention due to her absent Dad and always busy Mom. However, since she had an antisocial personality disorder, she grew to loathe and wish death upon anyone who called her out.

As exciting as that sounded, Near knew Lila was still trying to act sweet around him, with only a little more visible aggression. The monster hiding beneath her skin was alarmingly like what L had described himself as so long ago.

_ "There are many types of monsters that scare me: Monsters who cause trouble without showing themselves, monsters who abduct children, monsters who devour dreams, monsters who suck blood... and then, monsters who tell nothing but lies. Lying monsters are a real nuisance: They are much more cunning than others. They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of the human heart; they eat even though they've never experienced hunger; they seek friendship even though they do not know how to love. If I were to encounter such monsters, I would likely be eaten by them... because, in truth, I am that monster." _

Near shuddered as he realized Lila wasn't so different than the detectives since he was able to see that Light and L were the same, regardless of their outward behaviors. However, he also knew Lila wasn't nearly as smart. Sure, by the standards of the school, she was brilliant. But he knew her grades, and he also knew that people were drinking up her lies mostly because they were morons, but also out of a desire to hear exciting things could happen to even the ordinary people. So really, boredom was the culprit. 

"So, Lila, what are your thoughts on Hawk Moth?" No way she would answer him honestly because he already knew from security footage that she had been knowingly assisting a terrorist much more frequently than Chloe had, and the mayor's daughter had ended up in prison. And Lila's motive was that Ladybug called her out _ once _.

"I have no opinion. Being akumatized gave me more power, that's for sure, but I have no care for Hawk Moth as a person." For some reason, Near suspected that was at least part of the truth.

"Listen, Lila, you're going to prison whether you're Kira or not, this whole handcuff thing is to see if you are Kira or not, to change the charge as necessary. You don't need to pretend around me. And you cannot do anything to me, because not only am I working with the detectives, your usual threat towards those who figure you out, with making them lose their friends, won't work since those who really know me also know you're a snake."

Lila had an ugly expression, pinning him against the wall because there was no denying he was pretty physically weak for his age, having the size and build of a fifteen-year-old. 

"You can try, but I know being around me has been tiresome for you, so I don't think it will take much to drive you over the edge. You're certainly more difficult than the others, so you're going to be both annoying interesting. You go on about me being a liar, but is Miheal even your name? I know it's not, Near."

Near kept an indifferent expression, "Near? Do you seriously think my name is Near?"

"Of course not, it's a code name, just like L." Near scoffed because that actually was L's name, "But the detectives wouldn't send some random kid, meaning you are most likely from Wammy's House, and if you are directly working with L, that means you are either Lightbringer, A, or Near. I just guessed which it was, and I'm pretty sure I'm right, and it probably means your name begins with 'N,' so what is it? Noah? Nico? Nick? Nate?" 

Near had to consciously work to keep a straight face when she correctly guessed his real first name. He also cursed the media for figuring out L was a product of Wammy's House, and he decided to humor her, but also lie, knowing he was much better at it than Lila. "The entire basis of your theory of me having a name that starts with 'N' hinders on the supposed fact I am Near, which while I _ might _ be, could also be a code name designed to make you think that. And for all you know, my name really is Miheal Keehl, and the best way to deceive someone is by telling them the truth." Mind games, and it was clearly pissing her off.

An alarm went off, saying it was time to go to the party. Lila glared at him, but Near just smiled lazily, something he only did when he knew he had won.

They had to walk, ignoring the odd looks people gave them upon seeing the handcuffs. Fortunately, Nino's house wasn't too far, and it was clear the party was for Alya, who was sitting on the couch opening presents. Near smiled a bit because in one of those bags was a disk, and when played, would tell Alya and everyone at the party the truth about Lila. Two discs with the same information had already been sent to the school and the embassy.

He grabbed some cocoa and drank it quietly, getting a bit of a headache from a noise level he wasn't used to, with screaming teens everywhere.

He pretended to be surprised when Alya, curious, started playing the "big scoop" on the screen, in which L—using a voice changer—showed evidence in Lila's phone, suicide stats, and disproved every single lie. He raised an eyebrow at how some of them didn't seem to believe it.

Then he felt a jolt of pain through his head, heard something shatter, and knew no more.


	10. Chapter 10

Near woke up with one hell of a headache—actually, no, his whole body hurt badly. Why were his arms asleep, and one of his shoulders felt like somewhere between swollen and on fire?

His eyes opened when he heard what sounded like Chinese, and he realized he was in a dungeon of some sort, rather medieval-looking, with his hands chained above his head, and he had to stand on tip-toes to touch the floor. He was sure his left shoulder was dislocated, thankful he had been unconscious for that.

He felt something crusty on his cheek and licked it. Shit. Blood.

It took a moment for his concussed brain to realize he hadn't been knocked out by a pissed off Lila. No, he had been knocked out by those monks who tried to kill Light and L.

_ Fu— _

The cell door opened, and his suspicions were confirmed. He was fluent in many languages, and he had been able to practice his Chinese with Adrien, so he was able to understand what they were saying.

"You're Near?" The man asked, and Near cocked his head, doing what he could to feign confusion. But the problem he realized was that this was a test. If he could understand them, he was most likely Near.

He screamed as he felt something metal and hot get whipped on his back, tearing through his clothes, and Near cried as it both burned and tore through the skin on his back. He was used to emotional pain—being an orphan and all—but since he had been trained to work in the shadows, he hadn't been prepared for physical torture. Mello probably would have been, since he worked with the mafia and had been the victim of cataclysm by Light twice.

It was then that Near realized how positively fucked he was. Medieval monks wanting information? Medieval  _ Chinese _ monks wanting information. Not to be racist, but Imperial China was... what's the word...  _ creative _ with their torture. Even he had gotten nauseous during that history lesson.

He wasn't sure what to do, and that terrified him. If he replied in Chinese, the torture might escalate as they tried to make him betray the secrets of the other detectives who had become family. If he didn't, they might continue to beat on him until he gave in. 

To his rage and horror, Lila walked in with her phone, and she was using google translate on her phone to communicate with the monks, "There's no harm, Near. They know who you are, and I know you can speak Chinese."

_ Oh, that bitch... _ he glared furiously at her, turning the pain he felt as he was struck again into anger at her because she was totally throwing him under the bus to gain power. If he had to guess, the monks had been trying to take him, but hadn't realized until it was too late that Lila was attached to him, they teleported using a different Miraculous, and now she was here with him, but she was telling them everything she knew.

The pain was unbearable now, and he knew it would only get worse. A dark part of him really hoped he had a good enough relationship with Light that he would use the Cat and lay the pain on these monks. Or at least Lila, because fuck that bitch.

"Fine!" He shouted in Chinese, whimpering, "I-I am Near..." 

The head monk turned to the one torturing him, "Tell us about your companions."

It was a moment of bravery he didn't know he possessed when he glared at the man in defiance, 

"No."

He instantly knew that was a mistake when he was struck again, feeling the hot metal this time hit bone.

OoOoO

L was pacing nervously, waiting for Near to pick up the phone. He shouldn't be asleep right now, and he had been trying to call for the last two hours. Both Light and Adrien were extremely worried as well when Nino called Adrien.

"Nino, I'm so sorry I forgot to call Alya! I've been working on a case—"

_ "Yeah, yeah, that's not the problem right now. Miheal and Lila have been kidnapped!"  _ Adrien's eyes widened as he put his phone on speaker,  _ "Some weird Asian men came and knocked Miheal out, pulling him into a Miraculous-like portal, and Lila got dragged along. For her own sake, but that might have been a good thing, but—" _

"Nate..." L had two hands over his mouth, whispering his successor's real name, terrified for Near's wellbeing. Light had his fist clenched, looking at the ring. Adrien saw red because he was sure that, Kira or not, Lila would get Near killed to save her own skin.

"Nino, we'll get Miheal back—no guarantees on Lila since I might kill her myself." Nino chuckled,

_ "Just call me if you need anything, including for me to come down there."  _ Adrien thought about it, before realizing Carapace might come in handy.

"Actually, we might need Carapace, so yeah, coming down would be great."

_ "Cool, give me ten minutes to get French pastries and teleport me with the Horse?" _

"Yup." Adrien hung up, and once Nino was offline... "Holy fuck Near's been kidnapped!"

"They're going to want to trade him for the Miracle Box," Light said, "Or torture him until he tells them how to get it. Either way, we are on limited time before he's beyond saving." He shuddered.

"Well, if they want the box," L looked to the egg on their kitchen counter—which they thought was a fitting place for it and they wanted to see how long until someone on the task force thought it was a big egg and tried to crack it open, "Why not go in, transformations blazing, and annihilate some monks? Misa and Adrien have their notebooks and the eyes. We have Rem and the task force, and Nino, and Matt, and Watari, if necessary. You know, I wonder if the Death Note and Shinigami eyes would go to every version of Misa when she's divided herself in mouse form? That could be extremely dangerous."

"So, we're not showing any mercy?" Adrien asked, "I wasn't planning on it, but am I going to see that scary Kuroneko covered in blood and slaying people left and right, like Kiraneko?"

"Yeah, probably." Light replied, looking to Plagg, "Ready for memories of the good times?"

"I wouldn't call you going insane 'the good times' but if you mean when we worked together to kick butt, then yes."

L went into the egg and clipped on the Butterfly, "Nooroo, wings rise." Papillon was in L's place, and, like with his Ladybug attire, it was just a differently colored version of his regular attire, except for the silver butterfly-like mask over his eyes, and his black boots. 

Light was calling everyone, had transformed with the horse when Adrien wasn't looking, and then Nino was there with food and hugs. Adrien hugged his best friend.

"Kira investigation is on halt until we save Near."

"Wait, so he really is Near?" Oh, that's right, Adrien then remembered that Near hadn't been around when Nino was, so the two hadn't met outside of 'Miheal.'

"Yeah, he's really Near. He's also twenty."

"Wait, seriously? He looks younger than me."

Papillon was leaning on the wall, "You get used to it."

The rest of the task force, Matt, Rem, Watari, and even Sayu, all ran in. Light held up the Miracle Egg,

"If you have one, transform now. Everyone else, pick a Miraculous, any Miraculous. Nino, if you want to try something besides the turtle, go ahead, we have plenty. Some people might also be doubling up. And then we're getting extra powered up by L."

"We get to have a full-on superhero battle!" Duusu asked excitedly, matching Matsuda's excited face. Light nodded,

"Yes, we are, and it's not going to be pretty. Those monks already hurt L and me, but they've crossed the line by taking one of our own. So let's go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So who's gonna get which Miraculous (or two), I want suggestions.
> 
> And now, the return of crazy angry Kuroneko.


	11. Chapter 11

Everyone now had a Miraculous, but then Adrien decided to tell everyone a nifty little secret about what had killed these monks, to begin with, and how his father managed to learn how to OP the living fuck out of a sentimonster by akumatizing it.

For the sake of all their lives, they decided to go with a more logical tactic, and L used the Butterfly Miraculous to turn Sayu into Catalyst to give both him and Matsuda the ability to generate unlimited akumas and sentimonsters. Well, seeing as the Butterfly was being used for good now, the term was Tenshi. They also decided not to use the scarlet color since that was kind of tacky. 

Adrien grinned, seeing L was really calculating, and he was a good fit for this Miraculous, especially since he preferred working behind the scenes. He wondered what things would have been like if L had gotten the Butterfly instead of the Ladybug all those years ago. 

Matt was using the horse, with his name being Cheval, and after Plume and Papillon had created an enhanced sentimonster army, they unleashed it upon the monks at the temple.

"What was the point of us getting these Miraculous?" Misa asked, "If you could just do that." Light shrugged,

"We trust you guys, and we don't want to be in charge of all of them just in case a monk escapes this alive and wants revenge. So, congrats, that's your Miraculous now. Yes, Nino, you can keep the turtle permanently."

The butterfly symbol appeared over Papillon's eyes, and they all turned in panic when Plume started coughing, falling to his knees.

"Matsuda!" Adrien ran over, and he gasped when he saw the Miraculous was starting to almost glitch out.

"I'm... I'm okay." Plume panted, "One of the sentimonsters got destroyed, it caught me off guard."

"Matsuda, we can all go save Near, you need to stop now." Adrien pleaded, remembering his Mom getting sick and what became of her, and how Nathalie had shown the same symptoms. Plume still didn't listen, and Adrien ripped the Miraculous off of the youngest officer, 

"Spots on!" He transformed and ran through the portal. He had already connected the yoyo to his trunk in his room, so the moment he was out of sight from the others, he took out his notebook and a pen.

"Adrien!" He turned and saw Light run through, followed by a Tenshi. Light handed him the ring, and Adrien instantly transformed into Chat Noir, pocketing the earrings as the Tenshi entered a pen in Light's hand. To Chat's surprise, he heard Papillon's voice,

_ "No telling, Kira." _ Light smirked as the transformation covered him, and he looked relatively the same as usual, except he was wielding a giant golden scythe. Light shrugged at Chat Noir,

"What? Family ass-kicking." Chat still had his Death Note, and Light started running in the direction of the flaming temple.

While Chat was perched above, not even pretending to play fair and writing the names of everyone he saw, he noticed Light wasn't leaving many names for him to write, slicing through people expertly as though he had wielded a scythe his whole life. Chat Noir smiled a little, knowing his adopted Dad had the hang of this, before deciding to go down to the lower levels to find Near.

"Near!" He called around, using the Death Note to take out any guards. While effective, he wished he would turn eighteen already so he could use unlimited cataclysm instead of having to wait forty seconds for these people to die of heart attacks.

But they had to be guarding something. Or someone.

Using the Death Note, he ordered the final guard to unlock the door before dying of a heart attack. He smirked, before realizing he was happy about successfully killing someone. Light had been right. This was addicting.

He pocketed the notebook in one of his magic pockets that transported the Death Note to his trunk, and he walked in, claws brandished. He was almost sick then and there, when he saw the state of Near, with his wrists chained to the ceiling, being whipped by burning chains.

Everything Chat Noir saw had been slightly tinted red since getting the eyes, but right now, that was nothing as he _ really _ saw red, seeing the young man he had grown to see as an older brother suffering so much. Near didn't even seem to register that someone had entered. Chat and the monk torturing Near made eye contact, and Chat decided a heart attack wasn't good enough for him as he lunged, digging his claws into the man's eye socket, using his other hand to dig into the chest.

At that moment, he really was a Yagami instead of a Lawliet—sweet, unless you hurt their family or do something to anger them, then you've unleashed something else.

He turned when he saw Lila was there too, running up to and hugging him. But he noticed she was completely okay, even dressed up.

"Oh, Chat Noir! You've come to save us!" 

Chat Noir didn't need to be a detective to know what had happened, that Lila had sold out Near to save her own skin, and since she had been in the room, not looking sick in the slightest, she had been watching Near...

He tore off one of her layers of clothing, then used cataclysm to get a blood-soaked and whimpering Near down from the chains. Near was completely naked, so Chat used that top layer of clothing he stole from Lila to wrap up Near to let him keep what remained of his dignity. 

Near cried out at the sudden pressure on his back before his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell slack. Chat adjusted the small young man, so he was being carried in one arm, and he dragged Lila by the hair with his other hand.

"What are you doing?!" Lila roared, "I'm innocent!"

Light ran over to them, "Near!" He took the white-haired youth from Chat Noir, who had a look of murder in his eyes, staring at Lila. 

"Claws in." He revealed himself to be Adrien, making Lila gasp, before scoffing,

"Why am I not surprised?" Adrien sent her a dangerous smile, 

"Then do you know I am A, son of Lightbringer and L? Adrien _ Agreste _ died a long time ago." That had Lila afraid, especially when Adrien continued, "I have put up with your shit for long enough." He grabbed her by the hair, "Spread some lies that could only hurt you? That's fine. But I warned you what would happen if you harm those I care about. I know you aren't Kira, or if you were, you renounced the power, but that doesn't mean I am not going to do everything to make sure you spend the rest of your days in a cell. Maybe you'll be killed by Kira, I don't particularly care right now."

"You can't do this!" Lila screamed, and Adrien didn't care. Not bothering to transform as he dragged her along, not caring that it was snowing, and he was poorly dressed for the weather. He didn't notice the dead bodies around them, and he didn't realize he had walked through the portal and thrown Lila to the mercy of the task force, who had just had the situation with her.

He walked into his room, unable to think about anything until he was alone, locked in his bathroom. Then everything he had said and done in the last half hour came crashing down upon his delicate mind, and he threw up into the toilet, crying as he did so. He had killed someone in cold blood, not quick and relatively painless with the Death Note. 

And... he didn't feel guilty about it.

Perhaps that was what scared him more than anything, that he didn't feel guilty. He hadn't enjoyed it, but he also didn't care. But he had wanted to make Lila bleed, to make her hurt for all those she had hurt. But as a detective, that wasn't his place.

"Kid..." Plagg sat down next to him, grabbing a towel to clean his mouth, "Talk to Light about this. Trust me, he understands what you're going through."

"No, he doesn't. He was okay with killing people."

"And you don't exactly have any regrets either. But you forget I was by Light's side for five years when L was dead, and... let's just say his mental state wasn't pretty. There were some scary days. But, kid, I know you need to keep the notebook until Tikki can get your lifespan back to normal, but please promise me you won't get a taste for killing. Light's immune to the guilt, but he no longer takes pleasure in it."

"I don't know anything anymore. I-I wanted to help them when I asked for the Death Note," he ran his hands through his messily long blonde hair that he hadn't cut in a while. It was a little longer than L's, but not by much, "A-And I did it. I went to the temple and destroyed the monks, b-but..." he hugged his knees, and he jolted when he heard a knock on the door.

"Adrien?" It was Rem, "Are you dressed?" 

"Y-Yeah..."

Rem phased through the door, "Are you okay?" When Adrien responded with his lip quivering, she held him close, "You're so pure of heart, someone like you should have never found the Death Note."

"I-I'm a monster." He whispered, and Rem put one of her claws delicately under his chin,

"You're not a monster. For your own sake, I am going to destroy the notebook myself when your lifespan is restored, leaving only the cover to turn into a watch the same way Light Yagami has. Or perhaps it would be wiser to forget ever being an owner." 

"N-No..." Adrien shook his head, "I need to remember." Rem smiled,

"If you ever need to talk, I'm here for you."

"T-Thanks Aunt Rem." He stood up on shaky legs, turning on the sink and splashing his face with water. "I should check on Near and Matsuda." He wiped his eyes, unlocking the bathroom door and left. 

Plagg and Rem, who had both been there when Light was breaking down, looked to each other worriedly, fearing for the mental state of that precious boy.

Adrien walked downstairs, seeing L was sobbing in Light's arms as his husband hugged him close.

"G-Guys... is Near...?" L turned, wiping his eyes,

"Y-Yeah, he's still alive... for now. Nooroo was exhausted, I couldn't get healing powers in time, so Mr. Yagami drove him to the hospital. We just got the call that he's in shock, to the point the doctors don't know if it's reversible."

Adrien's breath hitched, "W-What about Matsuda? He's sick..." Light held up the Peacock Miraculous, which was glitching again.

"Either your father did a shitty job repairing this, or the delicate repair couldn't take the strain we put on it. L and I are working on trying to fix it, and Matsuda is extremely weak, also having been taken to the hospital."

Nino hugged Adrien because apparently he hadn't been sent home yet, "Bro, I know what you're feeling right now. But Matsuda isn't your Mom, and he isn't Nathalie."

"That doesn't mean he won't suffer the same fate." He looked up at his adopted parents, "I have lost so much to the Peacock! I thought a new life would mean I wouldn't lose anyone like that, and why Matsu—" he screamed as the idea of Matsuda in a pod-like his mother had been flashed before his eyes.

First, the monks attack, hurting L and Light. Now they go after Near, he might die, and Matsuda had fallen victim to a redamaged Peacock Miraculous—oh shit! Misa was gonna be running out of lifespan soon!

"What about Lila?" He asked seething. L slowly walked towards Adrien, 

"L-Light and I agreed you should have a say in what to do about her. Her crimes make her viable for the death penalty, even with her age..."

"No." Adrien said, "Not until we know if Near will live or not. For right now, I will be fine if Kira finishes her off." He turned to leave and noticed Nino was following him.

"Bro," Nino insisted, walking through the door with him, "I'm going to stay with you. After everything that's happened today, I don't think it's good for you to be alone." He placed a hand on Adrien's shoulder, "I don't want you to be alone."

Adrien smiled, "Thanks, Nino, I think I really need that."


	12. Chapter 12

Adrien worked for days on the Kira case, ignoring the worried looks from his adopted Dads, and only taking breaks to take care of Matsuda, who was sleeping on a mattress brought into Adrien's room. Adrien remembered the times he had needed to take care of his mother when she was unwell, and he remembered what she had used to feel better and decided to take care of Matsuda.

He looked at his father's journal on the Miraculous, the only words that showed him the real Gabriel Agreste, but for some reason, his motivations seemed to have not been added. But the concern for his wife was evident, and Adrien soaked in the information he hadn't seen before.

But what he noticed was that the Miraculous had already been pretty broken by the time they found it, not suddenly shattering _while transformed _like Matsuda. That would certainly explain why Matsuda was drastically weaker than either his mother or what he'd seen of Nathalie.

From time to time, the task force would come in to take Matsuda to doctor's appointments, but everyone knew it wasn't going to do much.

But what Adrien had noticed lined up with his mother was Matsuda still desiring to use the Miraculous, saying he "needed" to. And while bringing Duusu in was comforting, it was the brooch itself Matsuda wanted.

L had transformed with Nooroo as soon as the kwami ate up and healed Near, but he was still severely traumatized from the ordeal and suffered from phantom pains. Whatever had happened also caused him to have a burning-alive sensation from time to time, and he would start screaming out of nowhere. The scars on his body, especially his back, were horrendous, and even ever-stoic L couldn't look at them for too long before breaking down.

This made Adrien regret using the Death Note even less, and he had needed to ask Misa to keep his notebook for a while, so he didn't become the Kira is was fighting against while killing in a rage.

On the bright side, according to Tikki, his lifespan was back to normal—or as close to normal as it was going to get—so he had Plagg back. His kwami was clearly worried about him, too, but didn't say anything. Adrien knew Plagg went flying to Light with updates, and he wasn't sure how he felt that his personal confident now trusted his adopted Dad enough to reveal when he planned on doing reckless things.

Adrien worked on the computer and frowned when he saw Lila still wasn't dead, but the killings hadn't stopped. Did Kira know Lila somehow? Or was there a chance that news of an Italian serial liar known for causing countless suicides wasn't known enough in France for Lila to be dead.

He looked down at the Graham de Vanily Twin Rings he had been given in his parents' will that his aunt and cousin had been trying to steal from him at every second he had been with them, and had taken with him when coming to Japan. What was their significance? According to his father, they had special powers, but what those powers were remained a mystery to bother him. He had initially thought about giving the rings to his Dads, but then figured he'd keep them for himself until he found out what exactly they did. And the last thing he wanted was for his aunt and cousin to go after Light and L too.

Then he remembered the fact his cousin wasn't exactly morally straight. Could that even be possible? Lila had likely given up her Death Note, so... if he did let her out again so she could get the notebook back so he could use her to find the second Kira. Adrien just prayed his fear of Felix being Kira wasn't correct.

He turned, had his eyes widened when he realized Matsuda wasn't in bed. _Shit_, he ran out the door, looking for him. He sent a text to Light, warning him that Matsuda was looking for the Peacock Miraculous again. How could he have been so focused on the case that he missed Matsuda getting up and leaving?

He ran down the stairs and found Aizawa was on the ground, holding a collapsed and convulsing Matsuda, whose coughs shook his entire body.

"Matsuda!" Aizawa pleaded, trying to get through to him in this state, and Adrien was terrified. He had never seen this side of the illness, to this point of severity. He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he had just gone along with the plan to have them all go with Miraculous to save Near. He should have kept his mouth shut about how the monks were defeated the first time. The Miraculous wouldn't be broken, and Matsuda wouldn't be so sick.

L bent down and helped Matsuda onto the floor and rolled him on his side. Light looked up and saw Adrien standing on the stairs and walked up,

"Adrien, you don't need to see this."

"Dad? What's going on?"

"Matsuda got out and tried to get the Miraculous. That's all you need to know."

"I know that's all I need to know," Adrien backed up, "But I want to know the rest." Light sighed, sitting him down in the bedroom.

"He was crazed, delirious. He tried to talk us into giving it to him, saying it would make the pain stop. When Mogi tried to bring him back up, he went nuts and tried to reach for it, only to collapse in Aizawa's arms. L is trying to fix the Miraculous as quickly as he can to see if that fixes the problem, but to do a good job will take time. Have you found anything on the case?"

"L-Lila's still alive, meaning s-she might be one of two Kiras." He explained, "I had a moment of fear my cousin or aunt might be the other Kira, but the universe can't be _that _cruel to me, right?"

"I'll look into it just to be safe." Light crossed his arms, "Oh, and your aunt somehow found my contact information and will not stop calling, messaging, and emailing me about Graham de Vanily Twin Rings and wanting them back, saying you refused, and she wanted an adult to take charge. Do you have any idea what she's talking about? I told her I didn't have a clue what she was referring to."

"My parents' wedding rings." He held up his hands and revealed the rings, "That's what she wants." He got up, "How's Near?"

Light sighed, "Not dying, but he's not doing well. His back is so severely messed up that even magical healing couldn't fix everything, so walking is difficult for him and bending. But L already has dozens of potential solutions he wants to try."

"None of this would have happened if you hadn't adopted me." Adrien said, and Light shook his head,

"Adrien, even if you were still with your horrible aunt, none of this would have changed. I still would have gotten Marinette arrested because L and I had actually been planning on doing that after handling your father, so we would have the box and the monks would be coming for us. This isn't your fault. It is a shame that Near and Matsuda have been caught up in this, but L and I acknowledge where the situation and irrational monks put the blame on us. Do you want to visit Near?" Adrien nodded a little and walked into Near's room, where a lamp was on constantly.

The state of Near's back was sickening, and Adrien had to cross his eyes because he couldn't bring himself to look. The jagged scars running so deep it had cut to his core.

"Hey, Near." He sat down on the bed with him, and Near hugged himself a little tighter, staring at the wall and shaking. Adrien bit his thumb, trying to suppress a sob, unsure of how to help. Near was alive, which was good, but he was still either screaming in pain and PTSD, or he was in this borderline catatonic state. Adrien wondered how he and Marinette had somewhat worked for monks who were willing to do _this _to people.

He just hoped Light and L would come up with a solution for everything like they usually did.


	13. Chapter 13

Adrien woke up groggily and realized his laptop was on the floor because he had fallen asleep while working on the case. And then he smelled pancakes and rushed downstairs, but then fell down the last couple steps because he saw Near was sitting at the counter. His back was still horrendous, and he was shirtless, but he wasn't catatonic and crying.

Light set down some pancakes, grinning in Adrien's direction, and Adrien instantly realized when Near turned to him with slightly clouded yet still not-traumatized eyes that L had created a memory removal to pretend that Near hadn't been tortured. 

"Hey, Near." Adrien sat down, deciding to roll with this. "How's breakfast?"

"Pretty good. It would be better if my back wasn't trying to make existence a misery." Adrien tensed, and Light softened,

"Relax, Adrien, he knows what happened. L just removed the actual memory, thus removing the trauma associated with it." Near nodded,

"Yeah. But I was told you saved me, Adrien, so thank you." 

"I'm just glad you're not... suffering anymore."

"We'll see how I feel when the pain meds wear off." He got up on shaky legs, limping in the direction of the stairs, but L came out of the study, helping support him. "Any progress on the case?"

"Nothing for you to worry about, Nate," L soothed, "You still need to rest." Adrien's concern piqued when Near didn't argue with that, merely letting L guide him back to his room. And Adrien found himself not hungry anymore.

"Alright, so Near knows what happened but also doesn't remember it. Where is Matsuda?"

"Still sick," Light replied, "L and I were thinking of letting you go to Paris for a bit while we get this under control."

"That won't help. I'll still be stressing constantly, and I still don't know how anyone except Nino sees me now that it's been revealed I was friends with pretty much every villain in the city. I already read articles about people saying there's no way I was innocent."

"Well, everyone in Paris except Nino is an idiot." Light replied, "And your father being Hawk Moth was hidden from view due to your own bias in the matter."

"I suppose you're right."

"Also, L and I decided we're sending you to therapy." Light announced from where he was scrubbing the pan, "It's not healthy for someone so young to be living with tragedy and a magical murder case. You're starting to look like a blonde version of L back when I first met him."

"Can you tell me that story?" Adrien asked, leaning in, "You told me how you two met as superheroes, but not as civilians." Light blinked,

"Well, technically, we met twice. Do you mean in person or in general?"

"Whichever."

"Alright, I'll tell you the very first time we interacted. It was about five days into my reign, and I was already getting pretty addicted to the notebook—I later learned it affects the brain similar to drug addiction. L sent out a Death Row inmate as his body double to taunt me, and I didn't think my actions through really, letting my emotions take control, and I killed the man on the spot. And then the real L appeared, just the letter. Hold on, I think I still have that news report." He walked over to the television and dug through the tapes, "Ah, here." He put the tape in, and Adrien gaped hearing this.

"Wow."

"As you can see, there is a reason we were selected for our respective Miraculous. I remember that you were just as reckless for a while. That's why having a partner comes in handy—to stop you from doing something _stupid_. We're brilliant, but emotions have a tendency to make critical thinking difficult. When L met me in person, I was on the brink of tears from pure stress and rage."

"What did he do?"

"Met me in person, meaning I couldn't kill him. But don't think I am incapable of making complex plans."

"Dad, why did you and L not just go as Ladybug and Kuroneko to take out Hawk Moth?"

"Damn old man wanted to endanger children and fuel a teen's hero complex because god forbid we have a Miraculous hero without a complex. At least L and I were adults—or I was 18, so a teen in Japan but an adult pretty much everywhere else."

Adrien bit his lip, "If you and L had been able to catch my father faster... could you have saved Mom?" He heard a quiet gasp from Light, who slumped,

"To tell you the truth, I don't know. But I would have done everything I could."

"Speaking of which, is Matsuda back at the hospital?" L came in to answer Adrien's question,

"Yes. Mogi called me and said he's sleeping at the moment, probably due to the morphine. Doctors are doing what they can, and I have been working on potential cures. From what I gather, the Miraculous is draining Matsuda's lifeforce to compensate for the damage, which would allow the transformation regardless."

"So fixing the Miraculous will prevent a further issue," Adrien mused, standing up and pacing, "But that won't help him right now. I'm not going to let myself hope the sickness will simply fade in time. Maybe... if he transformed with Tikki, that might help?"

"That's what I've been thinking." The three of them sat on the study, flipping through the various books stolen from Marinette and Gabriel, "Or according to the books, some potions can strengthen kwamis. What if we gave one to a person?"

"L, that doesn't seem like a good idea," Tikki warned, and Plagg appeared too.

"Matsuda's already dying, what else could go wrong?" Everyone winced at the bluntness, but couldn't deny it was the truth. But then everyone's eyes widened when Rem came in.

"Duusu has taken the Miraculous, saying she doesn't want Matsuda to be in pain anymore."

Everyone stared at each other as they realized what that meant—Matsuda was about to get his hands on the Peacock Miraculous. 

"Claws out!" Adrien transformed and leaped out the window, having memorized a route to the hospital—it was just something he did after years of trauma. But he knew kwamis flew far faster than he could run, and despair threatened to swallow him whole, unsure how many more times Matsuda could transform without—

He was tackled by Plume, who was grinning. 

"Hey, Chat!"

"Plume," Chat sat up, "What are you doing, you should be resting, not gallivanting with a damaged Miraculous!" Plume hesitated, before looking away,

"It's painful as... you know. When I'm transformed, it doesn't hurt as much."

"And that's how it leads you into a trap to your death," Chat said softly, "Come on, I can carry you home, just take off the brooch. It might not be too late." Then his enhanced hearing picked up on the sound of a helicopter, and he groaned as he realized Demegawa was in a helicopter trying to get his ratings up by exposing the supers. Chat was still unsure whether this guy or Nadja Chamack was worse. Alya was his friend, so he had a little bias, but that didn't change the fact the Ladyblog was kind of a nightmare—and Alya did not fact check and listened to whatever Lila said.

Plume looked towards the oncoming helicopter, "I don't think it's a good idea to take off the brooch here, especially since the world thinks I'm Mayura's successor and thus a villain." He coughed, and Chat cursed. It didn't take a genius to know that if his illness was showing while transformed, he was really close to the point of no return.

"No. Plume, do you trust me?"

"Yeah, of course I do."

"Good." Chat Noir took a running start at Plume, took a tight hold of him, and bolted, taking full advantage of his ability to outrun panthers, making it a good portion across the city in a matter of minutes. He swerved into a warehouse at just the right angle that nobody would think he'd successfully pull it off, glad to find it abandoned. "Claws in." He walked over to Plume, who was getting up, "We're alone. It's safe to take off the brooch now." 

Plume hesitated, getting up and holding a hand protectively over the Miraculous, "Adrien—" Adrien forced himself to use his acting skills to plaster on a small smile which even he knew reeked of trained charm, but it worked decently enough.

"L is working on a cure. You won't be in pain for much longer. I know it hurts, but I can't lose you too. If—If you don't... we might not be able to save you."

Somewhere in the back of his brain, he already feared it was too late, and he might as well have Matsuda remained transformed until they had a cure, but what if that made things worse. 

After a moment of silence between them, he heard Plume mutter the detransformation phrase under his breath, and Matsuda was standing there looking like death warmed up, wearing a hospital gown. And for a moment, Adrien had hope that getting Matsuda back to the hospital would make everything okay.

Until that moment ended with Matsuda letting out a wet cough and falling to the ground, with Adrien needing to dive to catch him, realizing to his growing horror that Matsuda had just coughed up a little blood and was starting to close his eyes.

"Don't you dare, Matsuda!" Adrien shrieked, shaking him until his eyes opened again, "Just stay with me, okay? I'll take you back to the penthouse, and L can give you a potion, and—" he transformed and started running, "Please don't leave me. We can save you."

At this point, he knew Light and L had a higher chance of success, so he jumped into the kitchen and into the living room where he laid Matsuda down, screaming at the top of his lungs to get Light and L away from the stove where they had a glowing pink-red potion.

"What's that?" Adrien asked, and L looked at the vial and the liquid,

"It should be able to help, but also might end really badly since it's designed for kwami ingestion. Matsuda, are you okay with drinking this?" 

Matsuda looked up through half-lidded eyes, clutching his abdomen and whimpering, nodding almost frantically. Adrien's own insides clenched painfully, seeing someone he had seen as a dear friend—maybe even an uncle—suffering so much. He knew that when people were in this much pain while sick... he didn't want to think about it as for a split second he saw his mother in Matsuda's place, making the horror of what was happening sink in. 

Light held Matsuda still as L slowly poured the liquid into his mouth.

_ "Come on, please work." _ Adrien prayed as a tiny bit of color returned to Matsuda's face, and he was laid down with a blanket over him on the couch.

"How do you feel?" Light asked, and Matsuda shrugged,

"I've been better."

L crossed his arms, "But do you feel better than you did a moment ago?"

"I'm certainly sleepier... or maybe I'm pain-free enough to actually be able to sleep." L took notes,

"That is good to note, but we do have to keep you awake for a while since the main symptom of a damaged Miraculous is eternal sleep, so the exhaustion could easily be you going into the white light. Light, can you bring the medical supplies?"

Light ran off to get the stuff, and once the task force arrived, the evening went smoothly with everyone watching movies, eating dinner, and keeping an eye on Matsuda, who, while still seeming weak and ill, didn't appear to be dying or in agony.

That is until around one in the morning.

Everyone was woken up by a bloodcurdling scream, and Matsuda was writhing on the couch, and the oxygen mask was coming off in his struggles.

"Oh no," Duusu said, looking to Nooroo, Tikki, and Plagg worriedly as Adrien and Mogi worked together to keep Matsuda from hurting himself as he began to seize. Light and L were flipping through the books, and Adrien was crying, begging,

"Matsuda, please stay with us!" 

After the longest ninety seconds, Matsuda finally stopped seizing. However, his eyes were closed, and he wasn't moving, so deep in ten shades of agony and exhaustion that he was unreachable.

"Matsuda?" It was pitiful, hearing such a whimper come from Mogi as he shook Matsuda's limp hand, trying to get a reaction. And Aizawa got angry very quickly, grabbing Matsuda's shoulders, even as the young officer's head lolled limply, no life to be found to bring any support.

"Damnit, Matsuda, you idiot! Wake up, don't you die on us!" 

Adrien just watched in detached despair, willing himself to not wrap his head around what he knew painfully well was happening. He remembered hearing that type of cry from his mother, which was why he had long since accepted she was dead, before finding her body in that coffin.

Death wasn't kind. He knew that. It snatched where it could, taking people who were far too young, far too kind. It didn't pretend to care, it didn't pretend to distinguish.

Matsuda wasn't dead. But the chances of him waking up were slim to none.

Everything felt like it was going in slow motion as he watched everyone try whatever they could to wake Matsuda up, and he moved slowly towards the body. All the adults were trying to wrap their heads around what had just happened. A couple hours ago, there had been so much hope that they had found a cure—or at least making sure the illness didn't get any worse. But now...

"Matsu..." Misa whispered, before crying on Light's shoulder, and Adrien cupped Matsuda's cheek. The color in his cheeks hadn't faded yet, which created the illusion he was merely sleeping. That was worse in Adrien's eyes as his lungs started burning before a choked sob escaped.

And as memories hit him to add salt to the wound, he cried with more violence than any gale. It was like every atom screamed in unison, traumatized by how much the Peacock Miraculous had taken from him. When the wracking sobs passed, he cried in such a desolate way that no-one could bear to listen for long. 

Nobody knew what to say as Near limped into the living room, leaning heavily on his cane for support, "What happened?" He stared blankly at Matsuda, the only one here who didn't know what was happening.

"Matsuda's gone..." Adrien whispered, "He's not going to wake up. Why did this happen?" He started crying again, and both Light and L bent down and hugged their adopted son, stroking his hair and trying to calm him.

Only Light heard Ryuk's laugh and him saying, "Wait until the kid learns who Kira is."


	14. Chapter 14

Numb.

Adrien supposed that's how he felt. Numb, listless, depressed—according to his therapist. Nothing seemed to matter. Near was scarred and traumatized to the point memory loss was the only solution; Matsuda was basically dead; Kira just kept killing, and here he was, in goddamned Paris for a "break." What he needs right now is to work on the Kira case, not take a break! This is especially so not somewhere where everyone assumes you're a supervillain!

But again, Light and L seemed excited about this trip. All of the task force is drained from the case, he knows that well. Maybe this is an opportunity to grow closer to both his parents! This could be a fun family trip, and perhaps a way to get his mind off… nevermind. And anyway, It couldn’t be that everyone thinks he's a villain! No one could even recognize him as Adrien Agreste anymore. So hopefully, all would be well!

…hopefully.

Adrien went downstairs, with Plagg happily munching on Camembert in his trench coat pocket to find his Dads making breakfast. Both of them always seemed attached at the hip, and at the moment, covered in flour and laughing. Adrien smiled fondly. He can only wish for such a strong love. Adrien snuck quietly before tackling both his adopted parents; his Chat Noir training really coming in handy after all. 

"Good morning~" he said, smirking as he caught both the world's greatest detectives off guard. Light started laughing before hugging his son.

"Why good morning, my kit; I see you're doing well?" Adrien smiled a bit before nodding his head and surveying the room.

"So… Is anyone going to tell me why the kitchen looks like a tornado ran through it?" He asked before helping to get some flour out of L's hair.

"Well," Light started, "_ Somebody _ decided that surely he can make some pancakes—"

"There were instructions on the box, Light, it isn't rocket science! I knew exactly what I was doing, love, and I can finish the pancakes right now—" Light cut L off before he could reach for the stove.

"Because of the state of the kitchen, we will be having breakfast at one of the cafes! I did see one which sells amazing strawberry shortcake~" Light said, smirking at L.

L sighed dramatically "...Alright, I shall concede, but only for the strawberry shortcake." Adrien grinned brightly before hugging L.

Plagg cheered, before commenting sarcastically, “I better be getting some good cheese out of this!”

"Thank you, Peré." L smiled, returning the hug, and meaning it with all his heart. If you had told him this would be his life years ago, he would have likely laughed in your face. Yet for once, he is so glad to be wrong.

OoOoO

The cafe, Le Jules Verne, was lovely, on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower—making it a bit overpriced, but the service and menu were great, and it was close to a macaroon bar, which was very exciting and had been the first place L wanted to go. He was correct as well; no one seems to recognize him anyways, which means he gets to be left alone too. 

They had offered to bring Near, but the response they had been given was a very unexpected loud protest against it. Adrien had never before seen Near as the type to be a drama queen, but there Near was, screaming that he would rather die than go to Paris again—while Adrien honestly couldn’t blame him for the response, it was still rather uncharacteristic and had caught them all off guard. But someone still needed to keep an eye on Near while he recovered and healed, so Matt and Watari were on Near and mostly-dead Matsuda duty for the day. 

Light and L approached Adrien, L with an eager smile, looking forward to all of the sweets. "So..." Light started "L and I are planning on going inside to take a look at the menu and deciding on what to eat. Otherwise, I'm afraid L would buy the entire menu on impulse." L shrugged, grinning, both knowing very well that it was true—he had currently just bought two cakes within the last ten seconds, one of chocolate and hazelnut and one of mango and passionfruit, as well as a plate of gourmet cheese for Plagg. Why? Because he's rich and has no impulse control where food is concerned.

"Would you like to join us, Adrien? I'm hoping we can persuade Light to buy more fun desserts together." 

Adrien shook his head, "You go ahead! I'd like to wait outside, get some fresh air y'know? I'll be fine, and I will be right here" L and Light looked at each other, concerned, but relented.

"Alright, kit, take your time; I'll ask L for help to get you something." Light smiled gently, ruffling Adrien's long locks; since the case started, Adrien has been delaying getting a haircut in favor of working, and he already has it in a small bun. Adrien watched as Light and L left—not before they gave him pepper spray, just in case—before sighing and slumping against a wall.

It was hard to keep such a positive attitude for long, and the last thing he wanted was to break down in front of his parents. He sighed softly, trying to shut out the noises of people and his environment, Plagg comforting him from his pockets. “Just breathe Adrien…” he soothed, “It’s alright…” Adrien grumbled; Why were there so many people now, why are they congregating around… a guitar?

And a voice. Where has he heard that voice before? It seems so long ago that he heard his voice, but who? Where has he heard this before?

… Luka.

It couldn’t be, could it? Sure, Adrien wasn't very close to Luka, but Luka was close to Marinette. He must be grieving her, the poor guy. Luka must be so upset with Adrien, too! He left without a trace, to only later cause Marinette's arrest, and by proxy, her death! He must hate him and never want to see him again! 

But yet… Adrien wanted to see Luka. Or at least just see him sing, one last time. It couldn't hurt to just see what he's doing. And such a beautiful song too… _ Hadestown_, he realized. Adrien approached the crowd, hiding his face in his coat, before finding Luka. 

He looked much more mature now, but again, he always seemed so mature and serene. He was also wearing a leather jacket, which really suited him, Adrien admitted to himself. And—Are those snake bites? His Shinigami eyes have let him see things much more acutely, but was this really necessary? Adrien quickly broke eye contact the minute Luka looked in his direction—he couldn’t afford to be caught. 

Unbeknownst to Adrien, Plagg snuck out of his pockets, before flying over to Light and L. “Oh, they _ need _ to see this.” There’s no way Adrien is not telling them about this boy, and there is _ no way _ Plagg is dealing with a lovesick Adrien by himself.

Luka grinned softly, introducing himself, "Thank you for everyone for coming! This next song… this next song is for someone… someone I care a lot for. I hope that wherever he is, he can hear me." Adrien frowned, Luka, is grieving for… wait, he?! Before he could react, Luka started singing.

_ "Heavy and hard is the heart of the king. _

_ King of iron, king of steel _

_ The heart of the king loves everything. _

_ Like the hammer loves the nail…" _

His father, he realizes. He's… he's singing about Gabriel. A cold-hearted king, who fell in love with a woman so much different than him. Desperately so.

_ “But even that hardest of hearts unhardened _

_ Suddenly, when he saw her there _

_ Persephone in her mother’s garden _

_ Sun on her shoulders, wind in her hair _

_ The smell of the flowers she held in her hand _

_ And the pollen that fell from her fingertips _

_ And suddenly Hades was only a man _

_ With a taste of nectar upon his lips, singing: _

_ La la la la la la la… _ _ ” _

Luka looks almost longingly at his guitar, almost like… he’s remembering someone. Someone he cares about very much. Could it be…?

_ “La la la la la la _

_ And you didn't know how _

_ And you didn't know why _

_ But you knew that you wanted to take him home _

_ You saw him alone there, against the sky _

_ It was like he was someone you'd always known _

_ It was like you were holding the world when you held him _

_ Like yours were the arms that the whole world was in _

_ And there were no words for the way that you felt _

_ So you opened your mouth and you started to sing: _

_ La la la la la la la” _

Adrien gasped softly, truly touched by the words Luka sang—it’s _ Hadestown_, can you blame him?—even if it isn’t… what he thinks it’s about, hearing such genuine and pure emotion from him was truly breathtaking. 

The song came to an end, leaving many people shocked and some even in tears. After people’s cheers died down, Luka started playing a more somber tone, almost depressed and desperate. Adrien could swear he could hear haunting voices, almost taunting him. 

**“Doubt comes in**

**And strips the paint**

**Doubt comes in**

**And turns the wine**

**Doubt comes in and leaves a trace**

**Of vinegar and turpentine...**

** _Where are you?_ **

** _Where are you now?”_ **

Was he calling out to him? It can’t be. Adrien quickly shook his head; he must be hallucinating right now. That’s all really. Yet Luka kept playing, and the voices kept taunting. Luka then started to sing too, 

_ “Doubt comes in and all falls silent _

_ It's as though you aren't there” _

** _“Where are you?_ **

** _Where are you now?”_ **

Adrien couldn’t take it anymore. He went and hid behind the pillars of the Eiffel Tower, his Chat Noir experience allowing him to sneak past the guards easily, before starting to sing.

“Orpheus 

You're shivering 

Is it cold or fear? 

Just keep singing 

The coldest night 

Of the coldest year 

Comes right before the spring... ” 

Luka jolted, before looking in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. Adrien could only pray he didn’t recognize his voice. Luka started to walk tentatively towards the Eiffel Tower, before the voices continued to taunt him. He seemed much more determined now, though, continuing to walk around and play his guitar and sing:

_ “Doubt comes in and my heart falters _

_ And forgets the songs it sung” _

** _Where are you?_ **

** _Where are you now?”_ **

Adrien, despite his better judgement, couldn’t help but sing:

“Orpheus 

Hold on, hold on tight” 

Luka and Adrien swerved around the pillars, in an odd sort of dance.

“It won't be long 

'Cause the darkest hour” 

A peculiar man, who looks much like an emo frog, made eye contact with Luka, nodding his head in Adrien’s direction. Luka thanked him silently.

“Of the darkest night” 

Adrien is almost out of the pillars; hopefully he could be out of here soon, without much conflict. Oh he is almost there…!

Comes right before the dawn —

Luka is in front of him._ Luka is in front of him. _Adrien gasped, emerald eyes wide open, and slightly shaking. “Adrien?” Luka asked softly, showing his hand as a show of good faith, much like one would do for a scared animal. Adrien stepped back, already panicking and stuttering.

“I-I have to go, I c-can't, I—” He started to power walk away, hoping to not draw attention to the both of them. Luka stepped forward gently, calling out to Adrien,

“Adrien! Please, Just wait, just…

“_ Wait for me, I'm coming _

_ Wait, I'm coming with you” _

Suddenly, Adrien joined in.

_ “Wait for me, I'm coming too _

_ I'm coming too…” _

Adrien turned towards Luka, tears flowing down his cheeks. “How did you know it was me?”

Luka smiled softly , before cupping Adrien’s cheek, using his thumb to wipe away some of his tears “Oh angel cake, I’d recognize those eyes anywhere.”

Adrien burst into tears before pulling Luka into an intense hug. He must say, Luka’s arms around him makes him feel... protected and safe. Loved even.

...

In the distance, Light and L were watching the two boys, Light ranting over the phone to his father, and how is he supposed to explain to Adrien various sexualities, and the possibility of him not being straight, while L happily munching on the chocolate and hazelnut and mango and passionfruit cakes, with Plagg on his shoulder, gobbling the entire cheese platter happily, even the platter itself. 

“Well,” he started, “I knew I should’ve made breakfast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm Teacup! I'm a new co-author for Stalemate and I will be helping Twilight with writing it (and I will throw suggestions for some other fics as well✨) I am more prone towards fluff, so I will keep Twilight from torturing the characters (*cough* LIGHT *cough*) and simultaneously become 85% of her impulse control! I also managed to include Lukadrien in this fic, so all Lukadrien shippers, Hope you're looking forward to some slowburn romance! I hope you guys love this chapter as much as I do!!! Bye Bye!!!


	15. Chapter 15

"Wait—so let me get this straight," Luka said. He, Adrien, and his parents—Ryuzaki and Light, he quickly learned—were sitting in the Le Jules Verne, and while some small talk was exchanged, as well as some much-needed explanation as to "What the actual hell is going on and who are you two?!" It was, to say the least, awkward. While things were seemingly normal, being able to hear one's thoughts and feelings through music helps reveal a lot.

Light's melody was the most frantic and disoriented one Luka has heard in a while. It seemed to go on and on and on without taking a minute to take a breath. It was already starting to make Luka dizzy. It was almost impressive, as the man looked almost completely serene. Almost, as he seemed to be embroidering very intensely underneath the table, something that did not escape Luka's attention.

Ryuzaki's heartsong, on the other hand, was even scarier because it was targeted at him. It was inquisitive and almost suspicious, which, while it was understandable, didn't make him feel any better. It's almost like the feeling of being watched late at night, even if you're alone, formed into song. And Luka knew that it was targeted at him. And Ryuzaki knew Luka knew that. And Luka knew that Ryuzaki knew that Luka knew and—

It was tense, to say the least.

... anyways.

"So you're telling me that you two and Adrien, _ a 16-year-old you two spontaneously adopted_, are working on the Kira case, have managed to find some leads but really not much. Adrien has found a magical murder notebook similar to Kira's murder weapon—which, by the way, is a very odd way of killing—and you're allowing him to hold onto that notebook to solve the case. Then you decided to take a break in Paris, one of the areas Kira primarily kills in, instead of anywhere else on planet Earth?!" 

Light, Ryuzaki, and Adrien shared a look with one another, before turning towards Luka. "Basically, yes," Ryuzaki said in a matter-of-factly tone, before taking another bite from the macaroon pile on his plate. "I was anyways much younger when I started taking cases, so I don't understand the shock." Ryuzaki shrugged, while Light was sighing fondly.

"Love, you know that most people don't do that, right?" Light said, before taking another sip of the tea he ordered—caffeine-free, of course; he was jittery enough as it is—putting aside his embroidery kit for now.

"Well, my love, one thing I can say for certain is that none of us are 'most people' if I do say so myself," Ryuzaki said, looking pointedly at Luka, "One would say you're much more observant and subtle from the rest. You read the room very well, Couffaine." Luka's eyes widened, the rest of his body showing no sign of surprise, before sighing out loud.

"Am I that obvious?"

"Not at all," Light commented. "In fact, much like yourself, we know we are very observant individuals, and we often analyze and observe situations like you do. You're quite a detective in the making Luka." Light smiled warmly—the first genuine expression this meal which wasn't covering up panic—Luka duly noted, yet couldn't really be upset about. The poor guy looked like he was about to run himself up the wall with thoughts.

"Thank you very much, sir—"

"No, no, please call me Light. I feel so old when people call me sir and I'm still in my late 20s!" Light laughed, while L was sweetly gazing and swooning at him. Luka smiled before leaning quietly in Adrien's direction.

"Your dads remind me so much of Morticia and Gomez Addams, and I do not know how to feel about it," He said, causing both him and Adrien to start laughing and snickering to each other.

"They really are in love, aren't they?"

"You got that right, blondie," Luka said, winking, "And they seem to love you a lot too. You're worthy of that love."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

Adrien smiled, stealing one of L's macaroons. "For the record, I think they really like you too."

"Yeah?" 

Adrien nodded, "Most definitely. I think you're doing great, Luka."

Luka smiled. He trusted Adrien, and if he was confident in how he was doing, Luka could believe in himself too.

Adrien grinned back goofily, feeling very at peace right now. Nothing was going wrong, and in fact, things were going great! He could only hope it was the same case back in HQ. 

OoOoO

"Near, what are you doing?" Matt asked, seeing Near was holding a fishing rod with a magnet attached to it. Near leaned heavily against the wall as he worked, needing both hands to use the fishing rod.

"I am fishing for my water bottle. I dropped it." The nonchalant response was when Matt realized there was a piece of metal taped to the bottle, and it latched into the magnet, and he reeled it in. Matt debated intervening but wondered why because Near wasn't doing anything wrong at the moment.

"You could have asked me to pick that up for you so you can lay down." He offered, and Near just huffed in response, sitting down at the barstool near the counter, staring absently into space in the direction of the Miracle Egg—or Pot, or whatever they were calling it this week. Since Light and L had become the guardians, the ladybug theme had vanished, replaced with simple silver, so it looked like it could be mistaken for a pot and not a container for powerful artifacts. It sat next to the sink, looking deceptively innocent.

"I should go see if Watari needs any help with Matsuda," Near murmured, getting up with a sigh and leaning heavily on his cane as he hobbled towards the steps. Matt also looked at the Miracle Pot, then back at Near. 

This, admittedly, was not his area of expertise. He wanted to know Near and befriend him, but it always got awkward since Mello had always been a crucial part of their lives, and neither of them liked to discuss Mello's death. He knew Near had something on his mind, but communication between the two former successors was still tenuous. 

Without Mello... they had been together since the beginning, and it was painful, being alive in a world where Mello wasn't. He wanted to hate Light with everything he had, but then Light went and was kind, making things uncomfortable and complicated.

"Near—" he noticed Near had stopped, but still didn't turn to face him.

"What if we brought back Mello." 

Of all the things Matt had expected, that was not one of them. Near then turned, and their eyes met, but still, Matt found himself unable to process what the younger of the two had just said, "What did you..."

"Light did it with L, so surely we could do the same for Mello."

...

Knowing he had captured Matt's intrigue and excitement, Near moved over to the Miracle Pot, opening it and grabbing the Ladybug earrings, clipping them in just as he had years ago as a passive Ladybug Owner. 

Tikki emerged, "Near! It's good to see you're well." Near sighed. His relationship with the Ladybug kwami had always been a strange one—her willingness to act was stronger than his. To this day, he wondered why he had been given this Miraculous, and figured it was because he was L's successor.

But if he could bring back Mello, maybe things could be different. If they really could reverse death if they were smart enough, then surely this could be easy. 

However, there were several glaring issues that Near could think of off the top of his head: Mello's body had been lost for years, unlike L's, and they didn't know Mello's cause of death. Light was the only one who knew how Mello died, and _ that _ was going to be an interesting conversation.

"Tikki, is it possible to revive the dead if the body was destroyed?"

Thankfully, Tikki was an intelligent being, so she quickly caught onto the real intention of the question, "It depends on how he died. But you could likely bring him back. However, there is a price of equal exchange."

"Light's proven you can get past that if you're smart enough."

"Yes, he did. But that's because L died from a single wound. If he died from multiple wounds, taking half of the injury may only achieve killing you both—especially given your condition, Near." 

"I'll do it." Matt offered, "Or can we force Lila to make the wish since that bitch _ still _ isn't dead, and I'm sure that everyone is on the brink of doing it themselves if it weren't for her death—or lack thereof—being evidence."

"That's a good point, and I would like nothing more than to see her die." Near crossed his arms, "However, we will need to talk to Light about this, since something tells me this wasn't something a person can recover from. Speaking of fatal circumstances, I really should check on Matsuda." He stumbled, and Matt caught him,

"We're doing this together. Maybe Watari will have an idea of how to bring up the topic to Light." 

Near smiled hesitantly, "Maybe he will."

Matt helped Near up the stairs—much to the latter's frustration—and Tikki followed. Near squeezed his eyes shut, trying to forget what had happened the last time he had worn these earrings, of Light pinning him down and ripping them out. 

Light was a good person, he knew this and had forgiven him, but he had been unstable and downright terrifying at that moment, which still haunted him.

He had survived. He had gotten past that, so surely he could get past this and his struggles now. Maybe it would be easier if they really could bring Mello back.

He thought back to what he had said to Light about L, maybe not wanting to be brought back. He had been wrong, and L was happy to be among the living again, but he also didn't remember being dead. 

Then he remembered Mello. The last time he had seen his kind-of-but-not-really rival, he had been drowning in guilt for killing Ladybug, or L more specifically. Mello had always been a bit closer to L than Near had, so of course, killing L would have adverse effects on his mental health. Would Mello want to be brought back? For sure, the conversations with L and Light would be awkward, but... maybe it was selfish, but Near found he still wanted to try and make things right.

When they entered Matsuda's room, which looked more like that of a hospital than a bedroom, they saw Matsuda looking no different than one would while sleeping. There had been scans and tests, and from what they could tell, he needed to be on life support, as while his body functioned like it was sleeping, it was hard to tell if he was scoring a low score on the coma test or actually brain dead. He didn't need to eat or drink or expel anything. In that sense, it was as though he really was dead, and yet he still breathed.

To Near's surprise, Aizawa was in there, sitting bedside with Matsuda. He knew they all went in shifts watching over their magically comatose friend, but he thought it was Watari's turn today. It had been an intensely debated topic, whether or not they should use the wish to wake Matsuda up. However, Adrien had reluctantly been the one to point out that someone would have to take Matsuda's place, and it would be no good for two people to be permanently ill. 

"Mr. Aizawa, I didn't expect you to be in here."

"Watari went to go find more books to see if there was anything that could be done, so I offered to watch over him." He chuckled hollowly, "It's weird not having him around as the voice of optimism, instead like this," he gestured to Matsuda.

Matt just nodded as he helped Near sit down. It was common knowledge the task force was taking Matsuda's condition hard. From what Near had gathered, Matsuda had been the type of person they had all taken for granted, and none of them knew what to do when he was actually gone. And the entire task force had been there when Matsuda went under. They had been overjoyed, thinking a cure had been found, only for it to fail.

"I'm sure Light and L are doing everything they can to find a cure." Matt offered, "And it's not like Adrien would let Matsuda..."

"I know." 

They all ended up sitting in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Near's mind wandered back to the Kira case, thinking about what if the monks and Kira were connected somehow... It was ridiculous, and he knew it, but what if, in a theoretical sense, they were. What would that mean for the investigation?

He gasped as a headache suddenly set in, as it often did if he started thinking about what happened when the monks had him as their prisoner. He didn't want to know the graphic details, but the state of his back being just what couldn't be healed with magic left simultaneously too much and not enough to the imagination.

"Excuse me, I'm going to lay down." He used his cane to get to his room, flopping on his stomach onto the bed after taking some Advil. Tikki floated next to him.

"Near, what are you planning to do?"

"What am I supposed to do? I could use toys for my thought process with the case—wait, no, I can't," he snapped, "Because I can't bend. That's how I think best, and I can't talk to Light about Mello since he's in the City of Morons, and I can't talk to Watari. I might as well just nap." 

He knew Tikki was staring at him with disapproval, just proving they were not a good fit, and Near just struggled to get on his side, letting the Advil relieve his pain so he could drift into a restless sleep.

OoOoO

Adrien had been surprised when Luka offered to take them to his houseboat and meet his mother, but now that he thought about it, Anarka might get along pretty well with his two Dads, so he wasn't going to complain. However, he was nervous that Juleka may be there since she and Marinette were very close. 

Luka looked over to Adrien, before smiling gently and giving Adrien’s side a hug, “It will be fine, Adrien. Juleka and Rose don’t blame you for anything that happened, the only person still hung up on that stupid theory is Alya, but that’s likely her grieving. Worst case scenario, you know I’ll fight for you, blondie,” he said before winking mischievously.

Adrien laughed softly while leaning on to Luka, his arm still wrapped around him protectively, “Thank you, Luka. God knows I’d be a mess right now without you.” Luka smiled gently, before giving Adrien’s arm a squeeze, and leaning on him as well.

“You got this, blondie, and I’ve got you, okay?” Adrien nodded gently before separating himself from Luka and walking with him, hand in hand, to the Liberty. 

Not too far behind them, L and Light were looking over the boys, smirking at them and at each other. “How long do you think it will take until they’re dating?” Light asked.

“Hopefully not as long as us, my love.” L said, causing Light to grin evilly

“But I don't know though! Adrien does take after his Peré’s denseness~” L playfully shoved Light, pouting,

“Oh, shush, I came around in the end”

Light smiled, leaning on L, “That you did, my love, that you did.”

An hour or so later, everyone was doing great at the Liberty. Anarka and Light and L hit it off instantly, all three being very eccentric individuals, with many stories to tell—L and Light of wild cases they had around the globe, and Anarka of crazy adventures she had in Europe during the 60s hippy movement. Luka and Adrien have taken to listening to their parents stories—Luka further convinced in Light and L being the gay version of Morticia and Gomez Addams—while playing and fooling around with their instruments. There wasn’t really a set melody in mind, it was more playing whatever you feel like playing, while the other will slowly synchronize with the former’s melody. Everything was seemingly going well, and everyone was having a good time.

… Until Juleka and Rose walked in, alongside Alya Césaire.

Adrien's first response was to make himself as small as possible and stare at the ground, so Alya didn't meet his gaze. This was why he had to avoid Paris so desperately. If the arguments about his innocence had led to Nino and Alya taking a break from each other, as he had learned from Nino, he wasn't sure he could handle it if Alya realized who he was.

_ What to do, what to do... _ he couldn't leave, because that would draw attention to himself, but it wasn't like he could stay quiet forever, and oh god, what if one of his Dads said something— _ oh god, oh god, oh god! _ He felt Plagg in the sleeve of his trench coat, purring quietly to calm him, and Adrien focused on that.

Maybe he could get away unnoticed, right? Surely Alya didn't pay much heed to Luka's friends, right? 

Well, he was right that she wouldn't notice him. 

But what he did not expect was that she noticed _ Light _, and had a look of murder in her eyes as she pointed at him.

“_You!_”

Light made eye contact with her, his face that of total apathy and boredom, "Oh, hello. Césaire, right?"

“How dare you say that?! You’re the asshole that arrested my BFF!”

“Yeah, after she stole Adrien’s phone at least once along with other people’s phones to snoop around, sneaked into Adrien’s room _ way _ too many times to count, all of which were caught be _ security cameras _ if you’d like to see, and had a small shrine of him along with his entire schedule, not just of classes, but where he was _ at any given point in time. _ So yeah. I arrested her.” He shrugged nonchalantly, scoffing with a small laugh, “Not my fault France doesn’t fuck around with stalking charges.”

Luka looked over to Adrien to see him shrinking into himself, before leaning in to cover him away from Alya, “Did she really do that?” he asked softly. Adrien could only nod quickly.

“What, and you get to go away scot-free?! Do you even realize how many people you’ve hurt?!”

“Oh I do! Which is why I paid all of the fines the Dupain-Cheng’s had to pay for Marinette’s crimes, or else the Dupain-Cheng bakery would have gone _ bankrupt _ . I am _ not _ responsible for Kira deciding to kill her, and in fact, I am working to _ arrest them _ right now. And furthermore, how the actual hell was I supposed to know that Kira would come back after years of being absent, with a completely different MO, might I add?! So I’m terribly sorry for your loss, Ms. Césaire, but I will _ not _be blamed for taking action against someone who attacked me.”

L was smirking at his husband, softly whispering “shots fired” to himself, while Rose approached Alya gently—much to Juleka’s dismay and protest. “Alya, I know you’re upset—we all miss her—but blaming people won’t help—”

“Oh, shut up, Rose! You and your stupid morality—”

“Hey, you lay off my fucking girlfriend—” Juleka started, wrapping her arm protectively around Rose.

“I highly recommend you do, Ms. Césaire, because these young ladies did _ absolutely nothing _ wrong, and I’m willing to bet all my money that you’re upset because my husband and I didn’t let you get your ‘scoop’ on Hawk Moth, i.e. a _ goddamn _ terrorist!” L started, “And don’t get me started on all the issues with your blogs and the fact you break the basic rules of journalism. So if you can _ please _ leave them alone—”

“Oh, fuck off, you—”

And she made eye contact with Adrien.

And started laughing almost manically.

“Oh, you can’t be fucking serious with me—you let _ him _ into your house?!” She said, glaring at Luka, who only kept covering Adrien protectively. “He is the fucking reason Marinette is dead!”

Luka started “Okay, that doesn’t even make _ any _ sense—” before Adrien stopped him gently, and gave him a look which said “I got this”.

Luka let go of Adrien gently.

Adrien got up, and approached Alya,

“Alya—”

“Don’t you dare fucking talk to me _ Agreste.” _

“That’s not even—” Adrien paused, stopping himself and taking a deep breath, “Nevermind, if you could just _ listen _—” he took a step forward, but Alya took a step back as though disgusted by being in the same room as him,

“I’m not going to listen to the one who killed my best friend, you—”

“How did I even kill her?! How am I even responsible for this?!” He suddenly ended up very aware of his Shinigami eyes, and the numbers above everyone’s heads—a reminder that he could very well have been able to kill her, even if he still hadn’t been the one to do it, he _ could _ have.

“You could have stopped _ them _from getting Marinette arrested! You could have just sucked it up, and realized that she wanted you, and date her, but no—”

“Actually, we would have arrested her anyway,” Light pointed out, but was ignored.

“Why was I supposed to stop this?! Why am I somehow responsible for her actions?! She stalked me and attacked a person in rage, and _ I’m at fault _ ?! And now I was supposed to ignore the fact she did what she did, and _ date _ her?!” Adrien was already talking with tears in his eyes. He tried so hard to not look at the numbers, to not remind himself of Near and Matsuda and— “Alya, I know You’re grieving—hell, I miss her so much too! But what you’re doing right now is just blaming others as a coping mechanism—”

“Oh, shut up with your therapy bullshit! I don’t need your stupid help!” Alya snapped, starting to step closer and invade Adrien’s space as an intimidation tactic. Adrien was slowly stepping back, already getting short of breath.

“How come Kira hasn't come after you yet?! Death follows you everywhere! _ I bet you were the fucking reason everyone in your life died!” _

Silence.

Horrified, agape faces looking at Alya

Tears rolled down Adrien’s cheeks while he began to hyperventilate.

Luka quickly pulls him close, burying Adrien’s head in his shoulder, soothing him sweetly.

“Adrien?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Close your eyes.”

Adrien did so without second thought.

Luka turned his gaze towards Alya, with a stare, blank and terrifying, almost psychotic, shaking with rage. 

“Luka, I—”

_ “Get. The fuck. Out.” _

Alya got out in a second.

Adrien kept crying, while Luka soothed him quietly. He could feel two pairs of arms wrap around him, and distantly recognized his Dads’ voices, telling him that it’s okay.

He could only wish it’ll be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm giving Teacup lessons in ruining lives. Be afraid, be very afraid. - Twilight  
The angst was necessary, I promise! It’ll get better (hopefully). -Teacup


	16. Chapter 16

After that little encounter with Alya, Adrien decided it would be best he leave Paris and go back to Japan. Rose and Juleka attempted to protest, and it was clear Rose felt terrible, and Juleka was actually livid at Alya.

"Adrien, I am so sorry about Alya," she tried, and Adrien looked up with a hollow smile,

"It's not your fault, Juleka. But she just proved a point that I'm not welcome here. I should go." He started to leave, but Luka chased after him, 

"Adrien, wait!" Adrien turned from where he had made it to the deck of the boat, staring down at the water. He noticed both of his Dads waiting by the door, not making any movement, waiting for what Adrien decided.

It was his choice. He had the freedom to choose. 

He had offered to model once for his father to please him, and he had been stuck with it. He had been punished for asking if he could be done. And for years, he had been doomed to be sexualized and have no meaningful relationships without an inkling of doubt that his status made the other side less genuine. Marinette was proof that with her obsession, which he was sure had more to do with his physical appearance and how his status would benefit her fashion career than his personality.

Things were different now, with the Lawliet and Yagami family. He had offered to be a detective to please them, and they had called him out about that, making it clear they didn't expect anything of the sort from him. However, they had told him that he could if he _ wanted _ to.

So what is his choice? What _ does _ he want? He knew that his family—his _ real family _—would love and support him regardless. L smiled at Adrien, before nodding his head, almost as if he read his mind.

“Luka?” he said, turning to look at him, suddenly very determined. 

“Yes?” Luka looked at Adrien, a bit out of breath after running, but overall fine.

“Would you like to come with us to Japan?” 

Luka's expression changed to one of surprise, also looking back in the direction of Light and L, who were staring at each other with mutual shrugs.

"Sure," Light walked over to Luka, "Why not? Ryuzaki's going to talk to your Mom about arrangements to make sure she knows where you are and whatnot, but you can come over."

Within the hour, Luka had been given the okay to travel to Japan, and he had packed a suitcase, following the Lawliets to a hidden alleyway, where Light's black-rimmed glasses changed from their disguised form to the Horse Miraculous.

Kaalki emerged, "So, are we headed back?"

"Yup." Light transformed for the briefest of moments and then opened a portal, bringing them all to Japan—or, more specifically, the living room in the penthouse. 

He removed the glasses, tossing Kaalki a carrot, "Eat up. Do you want to stay out or in the pot?"

Adrien didn't hear the answer because there was a knock at the door, so Light had to quickly renounce the kwami and stuff the glasses in their respective section of the Miracle Pot. L cautiously opened the door, before softening,

"Oh, Yumi, Nozomu," Adrien ran over and saw both of Aizawa's kids were at the door, with 8-year-old Nozomu hiding behind his 17-year-old sister. Yumi grinned,

"Good evening, Ryuzaki. Dad just said he was here to help with the case, and we brought some dinner." Nozomu looked up with hopeful hazel eyes,

"Is Matsu up yet?"

See, after learning about Aizawa's abusive wife, Misa had "taken care" of Eriko using a car accident, back within a couple months of L's death. Because Aizawa wasn't aware that Light and Misa had found out until after he had told them once Eriko was already dead, he didn't suspect anything regarding the task force. However, taking care of his kids while working on the task force did become a challenge, but both Sayu and Matsuda had been eager to help.

It hadn't been easy telling the two what had happened to Matsuda. According to Aizawa, he had sugar-coated what had transpired while talking to his young son, letting him know that Matsuda had gotten injured as a superhero—since the media portrayed this as normal and Chat Noir was proof that superheroes did indeed get hurt—but it had become apparent very quickly that Nozomu was under the impression that this was temporary. Yumi had been given the more straight-up explanation that Matsuda might not wake up.

"Not yet," Adrien sighed, before brightening, "Come on in, guys. Yumi, Nozomu, meet Luka. He's a friend of mine from France." Luka waved to the two, and Yumi smiled a bit,

"It's nice to meet you, Luka." 

"You too." Nozomu was looking up at Luka curiously, before grinning,

"I like your hair!" Nozomu pointed excitedly at Luka, “It’s sparkly and blue and so cool and you look like magic!” Yumi quickly knelt down to Nozomu’s height,

"Nozomu! You shouldn't point at people like that!" she said, quite anxiously. Luka noticed her heart song—frantic and scared from such a small thing as if she had gotten punished for something similar before.

"Oh no, it's alright! No harm done," Luka quickly said, showing his palms to Yumi, to show he means no harm, "No need to get nervous from that." He said, smiling brightly.

Yumi visibly relaxed before getting up to shake Luka's hand, "Thanks. The name is Yumi, as you probably heard from Adrien." Luka nodded before looking down to see Nozomu. Nozomu was staring at Luka, starry-eyed. Luka smiled fondly at Nozomu before squatting to his height and offering his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Nozomu—"

"Are you magic?" Luka looked at Nozomu, confused.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You look like magic, and you made Yumi relax, are you like magic or something?" Luka laughed before ruffling Nozomu's hair.

"I don't think I'm magic, per se, but I do like helping people with music, which is, in my opinion, magic!" Nozomu grabbed Luka's shoulders with his little hands, hazel eyes burning with passion.

"I will find a way to prove you're magic! I just know it!" Yumi sighed before going to hug Nozomu.

“Let’s give Luka and Adrien some space, bud; after all they just came back from France!”

Nozomu nodded before staring at Luka, “Magic. I know it,” before running off, his older sister chased after him.

Adrien was smiling fondly at the entire scene, overjoyed that Luka was already getting along so well with people. He noticed how Luka presented his palms to Yumi. Did he already know what she had gone through with her total bitch of a mother? Adrien himself had never met Eriko, but from what he had heard, she was not unlike his father, which made him feel terrible for both Aizawa and Yumi.

“Already stealing people’s hearts left and right, I see~” he teased, bumping into Luka’s side, giggling. Luka smirked mischievously at Adrien.

"Why? Are you jealous~" earning a light punch to the shoulder, both men laughing. "In case you were actually wondering, I do not intend to steal any hearts, as I am a respectable member of society." Adrien giggled at Luka's antics.

"Oh, why thank goodness! I don't know what I would have done with myself if I had let in a scoundrel to my home!" He said dramatically ‘fainting’ against Luka. Luka caught Adrien, letting the blonde lean on him.

"I'm honestly more curious as to Nozomu's thing with magic. The kid seemed quite determined to prove I'm magic." He mused out loud, hoping to get some answers from Adrien. Adrien sobered, before sighing and standing up. 

"Do you remember that I told you about Matsuda?" Luka nodded, rubbing soothing circles to Adrien's back, knowing how tough the topic is for him. "Well, Matsuda was Nozomu's babysitter, and ever since he went comatose, Nozomu heard all the talk of finding magic to bring him back and is trying to help too. We tried to keep him a bit in the dark as to Matsuda's state, but he already knows where Matsuda is resting at the moment and sneaks in to try and help him." Adrien sighed, blinking rapidly to stop tears from flowing. Luka pulled him into a hug, continuing to soothe him. "Thanks," Adrien said tiredly, “I just hope Matsuda will get better soon, and that Nozomu will not see him hooked up to machines,” Adrien said, shuddering at the thought. 

Luka smiled warmly at Adrien, caressing Adrien’s cheek, and tucking away some blonde locks behind his ear, “I’m sure that everything will be well, you should try and take a breather blondie,” he lightly teased, booping Adrien’s nose. Adrien smiled before tightening the hug and sighing.

Both stood like this for a couple of minutes before the magic broke when both heard noises from upstairs. “Oh, I should probably check on them,” Adrien said, blushing and separating himself from Luka. “Feel free to look around! This will be where you live now!” he said, before waving goodbye and running to check up on everyone. 

...

Luka smiled longingly at Adrien, before sighing and starting to wander through the halls of the building. He knew he likely shouldn't, with HQ being so big and all, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He liked being able to lose himself in his thoughts while idly walking by himself. Everything was tranquil and serene, save for people's distant voices. He liked being alone with his thoughts and hearing his own heartsong and writing it down. There was absolutely nothing.

...wait.

He paused his musings, starting to hear a distant melody. It was a lone, sad piano, sounding muffled, as if you’re hearing it through a wall or a door, as well as it was accompanied by a vague white noise—very akin to rain, but not quite—which made it all together muffled and almost hidden away. 

Luka, out of curiosity, started going after the melody, which ended up leading him to a door towards the end of the hall once he had gone up the first flight of stairs, which he quickly opened without much thought. 

What he found was not what he expected.

The first thing he processed upon entering this room was the sheer amount of machinery, followed by the high-pitched and somewhat irritating beeping of the heart monitor, following the rise and fall of the jumping line on the screen. 

In the center of it all was a man to whom could only be Matsuda. He walked over to the bed, not noticing anything else, and seeing what had become of him. Adrien had mentioned this was the same state his mother had been in, and just the thought sent shivers up his spine.

There was nothing physically wrong or sickly regarding Matsuda's appearance, and perhaps that was the most haunting thing of all—simply how ill he was, but nothing of the sort showed. He looked borderline serene, as though he could wake up at any moment, but at the same time, it was clear he wouldn't, maybe not ever.

But the song was still there.

An idea popped into his head. Was it possible that he could...? 

He thought about Adrien's expression, talking about Matsuda and his condition, and how he knew it was so much like what had happened to Mrs. Agreste. And what about Nozomu, who was basically losing an uncle or perhaps a second Dad? He had to try if it meant he had even the smallest chance he could help.

He had to try.

He quickly ran downstairs to grab his guitar, which was lying against his suitcase idly. He ran back into Matsuda’s room, before promptly sitting down on a chair next to Matsuda’s bed. He sighed, before positioning his fingers on the correct chords, trying to get himself out of his funk and ride the wave of determination he was feeling moments ago. So he opened his mouth, and he started to sing the only thing he could think of:

_ “La~ lalala la la la~ _

_ La lalala la la la~ _

_ La~ lala la la la lala~ _

_ La~ lala la la la…” _

It was cheesy, to sing Orpheus’ melody from _ Hadestown _, a melody which brought back the dead with its love, but hey, Luka was nothing if not a hopeless romantic at heart.

And suddenly, Matsuda’s finger was twitching. His breathing pattern started changing. It was almost as if he was waking up! If he could just try one more time…

And so he did,

_ “La~ lalala la la la~ _

_ La lalala la la la~ _

_ La~ lala la la la lala~ _

_ La~ lala la la la—” _

“Oh my gosh, you _ are _ magic!” Nozomu shrieked in joy, before starting to run around and scream how he knew it, and Luka really is magic, and he knew it, and how this is amazing and—to say the least, it was loud. Luka didn’t even get a chance to stop him.

A new man, who judging by appearance was Nozomu's father, came in, "What's going on? Did something happen to Matsuda?"

"I think he responds to music," Luka replied, strumming the melody again. The response from Matsuda wasn't as apparent as the first time, but it was undoubtedly there. 

Nozomu’s dad looked in shock, while more people, Light and Ryuzaki included, started filing into the room due to the commotion. Ryuzaki, after realizing what’s going on, went to check Matsuda’s stats, before gasping,

“Holy mother of—It’s like he’s waking up! Holy hell, how is that possible?!”

“It was magic, Uncle Zaki, I told you! I knew he was magic, just look at his hair!” Nozomu said before running up to Luka and latching onto him like a koala. “How did you do it?! Tell me the secret to your sorcery!” he said, trying to shake Luka by his shoulders, and very much failing in the process.

“Well, this might sound nuts,” Luka started, “But I can hear people’s feelings and thoughts through song. When I heard Matsuda’s song all muffled, I tried to wake him up with another melody, which I think worked.” He said, no quite sure, because while he could hear Matsuda’s heartsong more clearly, everyone else’s heartsongs were overpowering his, and honestly giving him a bit of a headache. Nozomu kept excitedly asking questions about Luka’s ‘magic’ while the adults were talking between themselves as to where to go from here, knowing now there was a way to give Matsuda a fighting chance while they looked for a way to permanently wake him up, before Adrien’s voice cut through everyone else’s,

“You woke him up?”

Adrien’s eyes were flowing with tears already, he was shaking like a leaf. Luka quickly got up to soothe him. “I mean, sort of? It’s like he’s waking up, but not really? He‘s like half awak—” He couldn’t finish the sentence before Adrien was hugging him, sobbing and repeatedly thanking him.

However, after a few moments, Luka sensed a sharp change, as though a realization had struck Adrien, and it wasn't a pleasant one. Adrien had tensed in Luka's embrace, his breathing changing as he broke away, his face slightly paler than it had been moments ago.

“I could have saved her.”

“Adrien, what—”

“_ I could have saved her, _Orpheus. If I would have just done something, if I would have noticed, maybe even sang a small melody—”

“Angel Cake, focus on me, okay? I need you to focus on me.” Luka said, taing Adrien’s face and turning it to face him. God, it broke his heart to see him in tears. “It’s not your fault, okay? It was never your fault, Angel, you couldn’t have known when you were barely allowed to see her, if you see her at all, and you also can’t guarantee music would have worked on her too, okay? Angel, it was _ never _your fault.” Adrien was sniffling, before burying his head in Luka’s shoulders and softly sobbing, both of guilt and relief while Luka softly soothed him. There was a bit of soft silence, save for some murmurs and comforting words directed at Adrien.

… That is, until Near walked into the room.

And, waking up to Nozomu shrieking, only to find _ a Parisian he came across while undercover, _ hugging his basically nephew and romantically soothing him, did not put him in the best of moods.

Luka’s eyes widened, having not expected to see the young man he had known as Miheal again.

"Miheal?" 

‘Miheal’ stared at him with narrowed eyes, leaning heavily on his cane and walking forward, very noticeably favoring one leg over the other, which had not been the case before he had gotten kidnapped. Luka himself hadn't been there when that happened, but Juleka had come home in a panic, saying her classmate had been abducted.

“Hello there, guitar boy.” He said sardonically, “And for the record, it’s Near, you dumbass,” he added before using his cane to approach Luka, and almost hit him if it weren’t for Adrien stepping in.

“Near, please don’t hit him!” Adrien quickly turned to Luka to explain said situation “Miheal was an alias he used while undercover in France.”

“That, honestly, sounds like an alias if anything—” He started before getting smacked by a cane to his side.

“Don’t question me, guitar boy, the fact I told you that does _ not _ mean I trust you.” Near was glaring daggers into him, having grown to hate any and all Parisians except for Adrien.

“Well, where were you? Everyone back in Paris is worried to death about you, y’know.” Luka said, before offering a hand for Near, to help him lie down.

“Eh, fuck them, I’m anyways to tired to have a weirdo help me out,” he mumbled angrily underneath his breath. Luka made note to talk to him about this. It seemed that the kidnapping had left him with more than just physical scars, which he _ really _ needed to talk about.

“A weirdo? Didn’t think of you as the type to call others 'weirdos.’” He said, trying to seem confident, when in reality, this salty little sheep of a man was terrifying him.

“Well, I do call people weirdos when they stare weirdly at a keyboard while playing depressing songs! I mean, what the hell even is that?!” Near started going off, ignoring Luka’s small “please cut it out” motions.

Doing his best to avoid Near's bitter words, he took notice that, mostly concealed by his hair and his clothing, was a brutal scar on the back of Near’s neck, which he could tell went lower across his back. What could have caused a mark like that? What had happened when Near was kidnapped?

“May I ask what kind of keyboard it was?” Adrien asked, eyes suddenly hopeful.

Luka looked over to Adrien, suddenly very nervous “Come on, I don’t think he would remember—”

“Oh, so you doubt me now too?! _ For your information_, Adrien, the keyboard was a ZX20.4 keyboard, because I have photographic memory, _ Couffaine _!” Near exclaimed, waving his cane around before limping his way to the chair,

Luka was offering Near help again, which he begrudgingly accepted this time, while Adrien realized something.

“Near, that was the keyboard I used to play.”

Everyone stood in silence for a moment while the ball seemed to drop in everyone but Adrien's head, Luka praying for a meteor to come and put him out of his misery. The only sound was L passing Light money while mumbling under his breath—Light looking awfully proud. 

Adrien sighed and smiled, before giving Luka’s side a hug. “Luka, I missed you too so much!”

Luka looked over confused at Adrien “Y-You did?”

“Of course! Gosh, you’re not being weird Luka, I missed you so much!” Adrien said, squeezing Luka’s side to prove his point. “Gosh, Luka, you’re an amazing friend, how could I not miss you?” He said, blushing.

Everyone sucked in a breath, L particularly smacking his head against the wall gently, Light looking like he was a minute away from a mental breakdown.

Luka sighed, both relieved and disappointed, “Thanks, blondie. You’re an incredible friend too,” he said, smiling and booping Adrien’s nose.

“Yes, _ great friends._” Near added, suddenly glaring daggers at Luka again. Luka sighed, emotionally preparing himself to deal with a protective salty sheep for the foreseeable future. But honestly? With Adrien by his side, and people already taking a liking to him— probably because he managed to give someone they care about a fighting chance to live—

He wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. We got some Fluff!!!! I hope you guys like the chapter Twilight and I made, And y’all hopefully got your dose of feels and shenanigans! Also Near is a protective sheep boi, and Luka will soon turn into therapy fairy, who can literally help anyone but himself! Also Nozomu is baby, and his name means “hope” in Japanese! Thought it fits with Aizawa’s past home situation👍🏻 Also also, Luka is accidentally adopting Nozomu, sorry I don’t make the rules you guys✨ But yeah! Hope y’all like it and have a splendid day!!!  
-Teacup🌸-


	17. Chapter 17

"Hey, Light," Matt found Light trying to use the recipes in the spellbook to make another potential cure for Matsuda. Near was behind him, hobbling down the stairs after Adrien went back to work on the case, and Luka ended up the babysitter of Nozomu somehow. At the same time, L and Aizawa checked Matsuda over to see how he could have responded to music and how they could use this to their advantage. "Can we talk to you?"

Light looked up from the chocolate extract, "Sure, what is it?"

"What did you do to Mello?" 

Light hesitated, the chocolate extract overflowing the measuring cup and draining onto the counter. "You know very well what happened, Matt. Mello kidnapped my sister and I... went a little ballistic." He looked down at the mess he made, cursing under his breath as he grabbed some paper towels to clean it up. 

"What he means," Near remedied, "Is where it happened and what exactly you did?" 

"And why would you want to know?" Light asked softly in a way that was both detached and slightly menacing in a subtle way, which brought back bad memories for Near of that night. He subconsciously put his hands over his ears, "I wouldn't think either of you would appreciate hearing about your friend's brutal and graphic demise."

"Because we want to bring Mello back," Matt answered, and Light's interest was piqued, "Maybe with the wish, we can—"

"No." Light replied quickly, "You're asking because you want to know what the price would be to copy what I did with L, is that correct?" Both nodded, and Light chuckled humorlessly, his gaze becoming distant, "But Mello died from multiple wounds, not to mention I used Cataclysm in the end to finish the job. I don't know if he was alive when I did that or not, but his other injuries had him far past saving even if he was." He looked up, "I know it sounds hypocritical, but especially given the injuries Near already has, it's not a good idea."

"Can't we just sacrifice this new Kira?" Near asked, "Or Lila since for some reason that piece of shit is still alive! I'm sure Lila would work as a decent sacrifice."

"You can't choose." Light said sternly, "You either take half the injury yourself, or the wish will kill someone close to you. It must be an equal price."

"Yeah, I'm sure the crime rates are close enough to equal," Near pleaded, honestly just wanting an excuse to see Lila dead, and it was an added bonus if it brought back Mello too. 

Light actually laughed a bit, "I'll tell you what. No using the wish, but I'll talk to L, and we'll see what can be done." 

"I'm right here." L came down the stairs, "You guys want to bring back Mello? Alright then. Why not just use the Rabbit Miraculous and," he bit his thumb, "Perhaps the Fox. Now, this will take time so we can be there at the right moment and in the right place, but if we play our cards right, that may work. Of course, I would rather business with the Miraculous be after solving the case since all this trouble with the monks is getting on my nerves."

Light pulled L close, smirking, "It's moments like this that really prove you were Ladybug." L smirked back,

"You doubted me, Kuro?" Matt poked them both,

"Can you two stop flirting so I can hug you?" He squeezed L as he hugged him, "Thank you!" 

Near watched from the barstool, shrugging, "Yeah, thanks..."

"Nate," Light asked worriedly, "Are you—"

"I'm fine." He snapped, glaring up at the stairs as he heard Nozomu saying goodbye to Luka, who waved back as the young boy chatted with his Dad and his sister about how he wanted to help Matsuda too. Aizawa waved to Light and L,

"I'll see you two tomorrow," he said, "Thank you, Luka, for keeping an eye on Nozomu."

"It's my pleasure," Luka replied, and Near huffed. Light smirked to Near,

"Is someone worried?" He taunted, "A little overprotective with Adrien."

"Shut up," Near replied, "Adrien's already been through enough, and the last thing we need is another distraction from the case."

"It took a year to catch Higuchi," L replied, "And this Kira has only been around for a couple months, a lot of which was us dealing with either monks or Matsuda's condition, so we're making decent time." Near groaned, making eye contact with Luka,

"Now that the child is gone, I am going back to my room to try sleeping. Thank you for your time and agreeing to help, but if anybody wakes me up, I will hit you with my cane." He went upstairs, and Luka watched him go with a concerned expression,

"Is he okay?"

"No." Light, L, and Matt replied in synch.

OoOoO

The sound of typing and papers shuffling could be heard all throughout headquarters. Everyone was either stressed or pissed. Luka sighed, trying to look half-assedly through the names of criminals who died recently, not being able to find any pattern. Honestly, he was much more busy comforting Adrien, as the blonde looked like he was about to explode any minute now. 

Adrien sighed, slumping in his chair, and pinching the bridge of his nose, to soothe his eyes from staring at the screen too long. He honestly was getting tired with this case already. This new Kira never seemed to stop—they were almost obsessive in their murders. Furthermore, there appeared to be absolutely no pattern in the killings! It was just heart attacks to criminals, but this Kira has also decided that killing teens was fine with the smallest excuse for a crime, which was honestly concerning. There is little to no MO to this Kira, they just kill people they personally view as criminals.

He groaned, standing up from his chair and slamming his computer shut. “That’s it! This Kira makes no sense!” He growled, gesturing at his laptop.

Luka got up, grabbing Adrien’s shoulder, turning his body to face him. “Adrien, you need to take a deep breath, okay? I know you’re upset, but please…” he said, in a very maternal tone, protective and soothing yet stern. 

Adrien attempted to school his breathing, but to no avail, as he was still furious. “You don’t get it, Luka!” He said, “It’s like every time we think we found a pattern of some sort, and MO for Kira, or _ anything really, _ there’s a murder to completely contradict the previous theory! All we know is that this is happening in Japan and France, and that’s not a lot!” He ranted, before taking a deep breath, “I-It’s like… we’ll never solve this case.” He said, tears gathering in his eyes.

Luka took Adrien into a warm hug, soothing him and petting his head while Adrien groaned out of pure frustration into his shoulder. “I’ve dealt with human trafficking rings easier than this.” He said glumly.

Luka tried to smile but was honestly terrified of the thought of Adrien dealing with these types of cases. “Concerning, but I suppose you’re making a point.” He said, continuing to pet his head and musing to himself. _ This Kira is an obsessive fuck that doesn’t make any and all sense, and the only pattern the task force has is the location of the murder. Sounds hard as fu— _

Wait. 

Luka stilled, before separating himself from Adrien and looking at him in excitement. "Maybe the location is all we need!" He said before pacing back and forth.

Adrien cocked his head in confusion at Luka. "Luka? What are you talking about?" He said, knowing Luka was too deep in thought to listen before he turned abruptly in Matt's direction.

"Matt, you've been keeping a file with all of the victims' files and info, right?" Luka said, prompting Matt to nod his head. "Great, I need you to make a visual chart showing the location of the victims' death over time, can you do that?"

Matt grinned, already sensing the crazy genius in Luka. "Aye aye, man, one visual diagram coming up!"

Luka grinned at Matt before turning towards the task force, "Listen, I know this may sound crazy, but if what I'm thinking is correct, then we might be closer than ever to finding Kira!" He said, ocean eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Got your chart, Couffaine!" Matt hollered, before presenting the visual chart on the projector HQ has. The chart was a map of the world, with red dots standing for killings in thousands and green dots for killings in hundreds. There was a slider at the bottom of the screen, that when sliding to the right, showed the dots disappearing and reappearing over time, as well as changing colors. "Is this what you needed?" Matt asked, getting a thumbs up from Luka. "Alright then, the floor is yours, Couffaine," he said, rolling away from the computer on his wheely chair. 

Luka jogged towards the computer, clicking on the slider and moving it all the way to the left. "Alright, so this is when the killings initially started, correct?" He said, prompting Matt to nod his head. "Okay, so as we can see, when the killings originally started, they were all centered in France, particularly Paris," he said, gesturing to the dots on the screen. "Now, if we fast forward around a month later, you suddenly see a spike in the killings along with a new location where the killings are centered at: Japan."

"That was when the sentimonster of me had the photoshoot with Misa!" Adrien said, already catching on Luka's idea.

Luka smiled, glad to see his idea makes sense, "Exactly! Now, we see that over time the killings start to center more and more in Japan, and they start to leave France, yet still be centered there, as we can see from more green dots in the area of France and more Red dots in Japan." He said, gesturing at the dots.

"Alright, so what does this tell us about Kira?" L asked, munching on some cake in intrigue. 

"Well, you see, this pattern was the norm for a while, and I could tell because I was keeping up with the news. France started showing a decrease in killings, until a week ago."

“That’s when I came across Alya...” Adrien said, approaching Luka. Seeing the other boy excitedly explain his theories to the task force was honestly… really cute, Adrien had to admit.

_ ...Oh fuck, _ Adrien thought. _ This isn’t good, this isn’t good at all. This is _ not _ the time for a sexuality crisis, dammit! _ Adrien started internally screaming, yet keeping a facade of being calm for now.

Luka decided to ask Adrien what’s wrong later, perhaps he figured out something. But he continued regardless with his theory. “As you can see, suddenly the killings spiked in Paris, a day after Adrien fought with Alya, who from what I understood, is the spokeswoman for Kira?” He said, prompting Adrien to nod, urging him to say more. 

“Kira always seems to start killing in the location where they know Adrien is. Sure, they do it around the world here and there too, but it always seems to surround him.” He said, looking at Adrien. “Remember what Alya said, Adrien? ‘Death follows you everywhere!’ This means Kira is following Adrien for some reason, but I can’t figure out why…”

“Maybe it’s because L and Light are my parents? Perhaps they want to use me as bait?” Adrien suggested, knowing this narrowed down the culprits by a lot.

“Yes, but that means someone who _ knows _ you’re their son! And also, why wouldn’t they do it already? The killings are _ hugely _ centered in Tokyo, so it seems they can already act out on their plan to use you as bait.” 

“You’re right, that doesn’t make sense… what if it’s to lure me out though?” Adrien said, turning towards the screen. 

“Why would they want to lure you out? It’s clearly not for bait or for killing you, as they seem to already have the opportunity to do it now.” Luka said, prompting Adrien to pace.

“Kira is obsessive. Kira is trying to lure me out, but not to use or kill me—they could be trying to find out my new name to kill me, but why wouldn’t Kira have done anything yet if that’s the case? Kira likely knows who my parents are. Kira originated in France.” Adrien said. The last comment caught Luka’s attention, because how would Adrien know that? Sure, it’s likely, but Adrien hadn't thought about the location of the murders until now, and this seems like something he knew for a while. _ I’ll have to ask him later, _ Luka decided. _ There is something he isn’t telling me here _.

Adrien stopped his pacing, before gasping to himself and turning pale. He was seemingly staring at nothing.

The coin dropped in his head.

The coin seemed to drop in everyone’s head

“Well, look at that. Guitar boy makes a point.” Near said, which would have caused people to be surprised at the compliment if it weren’t for everyone looking in shock. But Luka couldn’t care less.

“Adrien?” Luka said, gently placing his hand on Adrien’s shoulder. But Adrien didn’t notice.

“Dad?”

“Yes, Adrien?” Light said, turning towards his computer.

“Search for the autopsy in Marinette’s file.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teacup: So... this chapter is a bit short. But it’s a big one. Remember when I said Alya hurting Adrien was necessary? This is why. So yeah! Just because we said Marinette was gone, doesn’t mean she actually is gone! And oh boy this is going to be a ride for everyone😅 May the odds be ever at our favour, my dudes. Wish ya luck.


	18. Chapter 18

Adrien stared in horror at the report Light gave him, or lack thereof. The truth was that Marinette's body was never actually found. There was only evidence of blood during Kira's slaughter, and she was _assumed _dead.

She wasn't dead. She had gotten her hands on the Death Note and escaped prison.

Emotions and questions flew around rapidly in Adrien's head as he tried to think about the woman he had worked with as a superhero for so long. Even after what she had done to him, she had been part of the reason he gave up half of his lifespan, not thinking it would be restored.

Near crossed his arms, "Wouldn't she have killed Lila already? I remember Adrien telling me how much Marinette hated Lila and the morbid humor that Marinette had been the one to end up in prison."

"Not necessarily," Adrien leaned back in his chair, placed his hand on Luka's that was rested on his shoulder to comfort him, "Marinette is always known for complicated plans, so Lila was likely just a red herring." He straightened and crossed his arms, "The question now is how to contact her." He brightened, "I have an idea."

"What idea?" Luka asked, and Adrien stood up,

"What if we use Rem to give a letter from me to Marinette? Rem will be able to find Marinette's Shinigami, and can pass a letter." Luka's brow furrowed,

"Who is Rem?"

"The Shinigami we keep around from the last Kira," Aizawa replied as though informing Luka about the weather and not something shocking like the existence of Death Gods.

"Sorry, what?"

He was ignored as L pondered, "Wouldn't Marinette suspect you having access to a Shinigami?" Light chuckled,

"From how easy it was to get footage of her crimes, are we sure there would be enough blood in her head to consider that?" L smacked his husband's arm,

"Light-Kun, that's terrible!"

"But is he wrong?" Soichiro asked in the form of a genuine question, which Adrien found concerning. The plan did supposedly rely on Marinette being too lovesick to consider the implications of Adrien having access to a Shinigami. However, it was still hard to consider the brilliant and confident girl he had fought alongside was doing something so foolish and would fall for it.

He got up, "Excuse me, I need a few moments to process this and write a letter." He knew Luka was watching him go with concern, but L assured him that Adrien would be okay.

When Adrien was alone, he immediately got to work writing a letter, thanking her for taking out his father and bringing him justice for the torments he was put through. Even as he wrote, it left a bitter taste in his mouth. Plagg looked down at the parchment,

"Kid, are you okay?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine," Adrien forced a smile, "Why wouldn't I be okay? I already knew she was a criminal, so why am I surprised she killed my childhood best friend and my family and is probably the real one responsible for Near being whipped, all to get in my pants?" He laughed, but it sounded more like a sob, "Don't worry, Plagg! I just need to give this to Ryuk."

"Not Rem?"

"No, because she might not be able to get to Ryuk since she's confined to staying close." He frowned, "I remember you mentioned you're connected to Ryuk, can you like...summon him?"

Plagg sighed, "Yes, I can summon him." He took a dark glow for a moment before returning to normal, "It's done. But it may take a while."

"Right..." Adrien turned and heard the knock on the door.

"Adrien?" It was Light, "Luka's worried about you. I told him to give you some space until you come out on your own." The doorknob jiggled for a moment, but it was locked, "When you're ready, come down for dinner, alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Dad." He laid down in bed, staring at the ceiling, "Plagg...I don't know if I will be able to face her. And even if I do, she'll surely be put to death."

"Do you want that to happen?" Plagg asked, "Because I am pretty sure your family is known for sparing Kiras."

"Really?" Adrien laughed a bit, "How many Kira sacrifices did Dad use to hide his identity again? Thirty-seven?"

"Something like that." Plagg replied, and Ryuk appeared through the wall, "You were in the area?"

"Yeah," Ryuk chuckled, "So you figured it out?"

"That Kira is Marinette?" Adrien asked, sitting up in bed, "Yeah, I figured it out. Why did it have to be her?"

"I was bored," Ryuk replied, "I wanted to see what would happen if the Death Note was in a prison, and I was not disappointed. Listen, as Light-o already knows, I am not on anyone's side."

"I wish I could be disappointed in you," Plagg shook his head, "But I'd be a hypocrite if I said I wouldn't be curious too." Adrien handed Ryuk the letter and an apple,

"Give this to Marinette, and I promise you it will be worth your while." Ryuk devoured the apple, laughing,

"I'll be looking forward to it." He hurried off, and Adrien laid back down and contemplated what would happen tomorrow, assuming everything went according to plan. He just wanted this over with, but simultaneously, the thought of this case coming to a close in such a way brought both rage and terror.

Plagg floated above Adrien and looked down at him, "What are you hoping happens, Adrien?"

"I don't know," he admitted quietly, hugging a pillow. "The truth is that I really don't know."

...

Luka strummed the guitar at Matsuda's bedside, seeing if he could get through to the comatose man. If Adrien wanted to be left alone, this was the best he could do.

New information flew through his thoughts that he knew was translating into his music even if he tried to keep the turmoil out. He shouldn't be surprised the task force was completely calm about having a Death God around. The thing that was truly bothering him was that the feeling Adrien was hiding something hadn't gotten better with this information—if anything, it had gotten worse. Adrien had been omitting information in his plan. There was a reason Marinette wouldn't think much of this besides her being horny. But what was it?

He snapped out of it when he realized Nozomu was looking up at him, "Oh, hello, Nozomu." He hoisted the young boy onto his lap, "What is it?"

"Can you teach me to play the guitar?" Nozomu asked, "I want to help Matsuda too!" Luka smiled at the child's kindness, and he looked at his guitar,

"This is a little too big for you, but I think I can teach you a little bit." He gave Nozomu the guitar that made him look even smaller. Nozomu strummed experimentally on the strings, testing them,

_ "La... la la la... la la la..." _ the timing was a little off, but Luka found himself impressed Nozomu was able to figure out the notes.

"I'm impressed."

Nozomu beamed at the praise, but then his mood soured as he glanced at Matsuda on the bed, "Is Matsuda going to be okay? Daddy won't tell me, and Ide says nobody knows." He looked up with watery hazel eyes, "But you're magic, so you've got to know, right?"

Luka hesitated, "I..." He softened further, "You know how when you get sick, you're always told to take a nap so you can get better?" Nozomu nodded, and Luka smiled, "Matsuda is very, very sick. He just needs extra sleep, and he might be asleep for a very long time."

"So he's just going to sleep for a while and then he'll feel better?" Luka nodded, and Nozomu jumped up in glee,

"Yay!" He hugged Luka's neck, "Thank you! I'm gonna tell Daddy!" He ran off, and Luka realized Near was in the doorway, watching him before turning away.

"Near!" He got up, but Near was already limping down the hall, "I've wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" Near snapped, "We have nothing to talk about. I was just making sure the child wouldn't be too loud so I can go back to bed, and then work to capture Marinette."

"You have been sleeping a lot more than is healthy. I know you went through a lot, but that's no reason to snap at everyone. Nobody here wants to hurt you."

Near narrowed his eyes, "None of that is your business, Couffaine. I'm going to head to bed, let me know when it's time to capture Marinette." He headed off, and Luka knew better than to follow him.

But this wasn't over yet. Luka didn't want to watch Near tear himself apart, and it was obvious nobody else wanted that either.

Instead, he rested with his back against Adrien's door, "Hey, Adrien? You don't have to say anything. But...if you need some comfort, I'm right here for you, alright?"

He was startled by the door opening, and he fell backward with a yelp. Adrien offered a hand to help him up, which he took gratefully. Adrien buried his face in Luka's chest,

"I can't believe this is really happening."

Luka sighed, holding Adrien a little tighter, "I know, Angel... it's going to be okay."

OoOoO

Adrien held up a lantern in the forest he had requested to meet Marinette in. Hidden around were members of the task force ready to arrest her at any second when Adrien gave the clear. He knew Ryuk wouldn't say anything on the matter since he knew ahead of time about this plan, and therefore it wouldn't creep him out.

He didn't need the lantern. His Shinigami eyes made his vision far beyond that of a normal person, but only Light and L knew about that.

He spotted Marinette long before she probably intended for him to since she had been lingering in the shadows to probably jump him, "Marinette?!" He took a step back, having addressed Kira in his letter, not Marinette herself, "I—I thought—"

"Are you surprised?" Marinette asked cheerfully, "I had to get out of prison somehow, and the Death Note was the perfect way to do it!" She tried to grab him, but he took another step back, "Come on, Adrien, where's my reunion hug? I'm the one who killed your father, after all."

Adrien felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, and he felt for the alert button on his palm that was impossible to see in the faint lighting. But he knew this was the best option to capture her, so he leaned in for a hug and instantly regretted it when Marinette's hand went far lower than he was comfortable with.

His breath hitched, he pressed the button, keeping a tight hold on Marinette as the task force appeared at the ready and moved to arrest her.

"What?!" Marinette screamed in horror as she realized what was happening and struggled, but Adrien held firm, much stronger than she expected as she was quickly apprehended, "Why would you do this, Adrien?!"

"Because I am a detective," Adrien replied coldly, putting on an impassive expression to reveal he had been playing her, and she fell for it, "I am the son of L and Lightbringer."

Marinette's eyes widened as she was dragged away, "Adrien! They kidnapped and manipulated you! Listen to your heart, you know this is wrong!"

Adrien shook his head, "I'm sorry, Marinette, but I am making sure justice prevailed...I just didn't wish it would be like this."

Her screams of protest rang in his ears even long after she was pulled away, and Adrien snapped out of his trance when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw L standing behind him. 

"You did good, Adrien," L assured him, and Adrien finally let go of his emotions and sobbed against L's chest. L lowered them into the grass and held his adopted son close, "It's okay now, you did good."

They stayed there for a while before it grew cold, and it was time to head home, and Adrien cried himself to sleep.

"I'll take him," Luka said to L and scooped up Adrien gently in his arms. While asleep, Adrien rested his head against Luka's shoulders.

He was relieved Adrien was sleeping now because the future was uncertain, and the outcome could very well end in a way Adrien wouldn't want, especially without closure.

"Rest, Angel," he whispered, "And I hope you will feel better in the morning."


	19. Chapter 19

Opening his eyes, Adrien winced at the sunlight from his window. Groaning, he turned to his side and then noticed L fidget, holding a tray of teacups and a teapot with one hand. 

Adrien sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes, "Morning, Père. You got me tea?" He asked, snapping his father out of his off trance.

"Oh yes, I thought since yesterday that you could use a bit of a boost." He said quickly, going to fill up a cup of tea for Adrien. He passed the cup to his son, mumbling softly something along the lines of "sugar to sweeten your tea" before returning to his quiet, contemplative state. 

Both sat in silence for a bit, only pausing to sip their tea once in a while. 

"...Marinette is in captivity. The task force is waiting for the thumbs up to get answers." L said, breaking the heavy silence. "Get answers" was a bit of a concerning statement. That implies more than simple interrogation. That implies doing whatever it takes for a response.

Adrien nodded, curling up in a ball. It wasn't that simple… even after everything, a part of him feels wrong to hurt her.

L sucked in a deep breath, "I'm not… good with emotions. I can handle feelings when people are happy or relaxed because that doesn't usually require doing much but continuing to maintain the state of happiness. I struggle to understand your pain or distress, and I don't know how I can help. And I know, you're probably more close to Light because of the Death Note and Plagg, I know I'm not the best person for the job—"

He was cut off by a tight hug from his son. L sighed, hugging tightly in return.

Parting after a moment, L continued, "But I do run this case, even if alongside your Dad. We're waiting for your opinion as to how we should proceed. You know Ms. Dupain-Cheng better than all of us. This is your call now, okay?" It didn't seem like much, but it meant more than what was shown. It meant having a say. Having a choice. Adrien couldn't be more grateful.

Adrien smiled, attempting to hold back tears, "Thank you, Pére," he said softly, with a genuine smile.

L softened before putting their respective teacups back on the tray, "Let's get going, shall we?" He asked, helping his son out of bed.

As he and L headed downstairs, Adrien grimaced as he heard shouting from downstairs. Light had told him the task force weren't the calmest of people and had been dealing with general trauma tied to the Kira case for years, so he should have seen this coming that none of them were any means happy right now, even if they had captured Marinette.

In the kitchen, he saw Light sitting at the barstool while Soichiro was stress-cooking for everyone. Aizawa and Ide were sitting on the couch as though trying to keep each other from losing it. Near was spinning his cane around, and Matt was rage gaming.

To Adrien's surprise, Mogi was the one taking charge, talking and very clearly pissed off.

"We captured Kira," Mogi said aloud while pacing, "What do we do now? We've never captured a Kira alive for this long—and we've dealt with forty Kiras!" Adrien noticed Light had to hide a bit of laughter at how true the massive number of Kiras was, but even that somewhat amusing memory to the former mass killer didn't ease the tension in the air that could probably be cut with a knife.

"Logically," Aizawa chimed in, leaning back on the couch and looking up at the ceiling, "We're supposed to interrogate her, but then we have to handle the issue of if she doesn't relent or if her Shinigami is protective of her. I mean, Rem stays around with us and has for years, and it's no secret she's gotten attached to Misa."

Misa nodded and looked up to Rem, who silently confirmed that she was extremely protective of Misa.

Adrien sat down in a chair in the living room next to the kitchen to blend in while everyone else came up with a plan.

Luka had his hands in his hair while trying to think of a plan. "Well, from what I know about Marinette, she loves to use people for her own gain." He grimaced, "She used me as a rebound because she was upset she couldn't have Adrien and made it no secret what role I played. When Adrien was taken to England, even before being adopted, Marinette would tell me for hours about her plans to bring Adrien back as though we weren't seemingly on a date at the moment _ she asked me on." _

"Oh, that's shitty," Ide nudged Aizawa a bit, "She sounds kind of like your ex-wife." Everyone cringed at how accurate the comparison was. Aizawa rolled his eyes,

"But unlike Eriko, where the problem got solved by a rogue car, what are we going to do about a former superhero, guardian, _ and _ mass killer?"

"I mean..." Matt offered, "I have a car that's nice and ready to go rogue. Hold on, have we _ ever _ executed any of the Kiras?"

"We got close with the final one years ago," Near replied, "Then she just died in prison. So no, we have never successfully executed a Kira. This is completely new territory to have captured one of this long before death occurs." He looked at Luka, "But regrettably, I agree with guitar boy, especially since she used the monks and unknowingly Lila to kidnap me. And if Adrien is her focus...maybe she would listen to him? This also begs the question of how many people in Paris know about this? Perhaps Césaire?"

"We'll bring her in for questioning," Adrien offered. "One thing I am curious about is how much Master Fu taught her before he lost his memory because before Light and L stole the Miracle Box, he did teach her a lot and pretend I didn't exist."

Mogi snapped up, "Are you saying she actually knows the cure for Matsuda?"

"I don't know—I mean, she might? Again, please don't get your hopes up. I have no idea what she was taught." But that didn't change the fact everyone's interest was piqued. Adrien was still adjusting to the clan mindset this group had. If someone harmed one of their own, that person would pay, which included holding out on a cure.

"If there is even a chance that she knows," Mogi said this in a seemingly calm way, but anyone who knew him knew full well he was fuming, "We're getting that information out of her. I don't care what it takes." He turned to L, "You already have her strapped up like Misa was, correct?"

Adrien's eyes widened, having heard about that, "What?!" He stood up, "Wasn't that crimes against humanity levels of cruel?!"

"None of us care at this point," Soichiro replied, "Unlike Misa, Ms. Dupain-Cheng is confirmed guilty on multiple accounts and hurting countless people in this room. As of now, she's lucky to not be given the death penalty already."

"For now," Ide growled, and Aizawa put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Maybe we can bring that up and force her to tell us everything she knows in exchange for her life?"

"L can torture her for all I care," Mogi snapped, "As long as she gives us that cure for Matsuda."

L turned and noticed Adrien was on the brink of tears, hearing all the generally violent thoughts regarding the person who had once been his friend. He watched as discussion slowly turned into argument, everyone having their own idea as to what to do with Marinette.

"Alright, that's enough everyone!" He shouted, getting the attention of the squabbling task force out for blood. "I know… everything sucks right now. And yes, we are tired and pissed and we want blood." He paused, and some murmured in agreement. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng hurt multiple of our own. And we will not let this pass. But we can't start arguing with one another like children, or immediately torture her out of hatred! Tearing ourselves apart over this is what she'd want us to do. So we are not going to torture her _ yet," _ he frowned at Mogi's angry muttering, "We will try to get answers through interrogation, and resort to murder and threats if we have to." 

He turned to see Adrien smile shakily. L relaxed a bit from where he was clearly out of his comfort zone before facing the task force once again,

"Trust me, I, for one am dying to kill her in cold blood or use her as a resource, but we need answers first." He said, as most of the task force begrudgingly agreed, save for Mogi. "Good. Now everyone's dismissed, we have to set up an interrogation room stat." He said, watching as many either returned to their business or went ahead to attend the interrogation. 

Adrien smiled, giving his Pére a quick side hug before taking Luka's hand to eat breakfast together.

OoOoO

After a lot of debating, it was decided Chat Noir was going to be the first one to talk to her, so he could play nice and possibly get some information. If that didn't work, they'd try Adrien, then let the rest of the task force do whatever they wanted.

He looked at the other side of the one-way mirror, seeing Marinette bound and still struggling against her restraints. Adrien glanced to Plagg, knowing that he had to tell everyone else first if it came down to admitting something. He had already agreed with Plagg on the matter to make sure Light was still safe from suspicion—which _ he _ wasn't concerned about since the task force had trusted Light with their lives for nearly ten years.

"Guys... there's something I have to tell you." He whispered and looked to Plagg, "Can you explain first?"

"I am the one who brought Shinigami into existence," Plagg explained, and this seemed to be new information even to Light, "That means I can give the Shinigami eyes to the Cat holder." A bluff, Plagg already explained that the eyes were something Shinigami had, but he couldn't give it to humans. "Adrien asked for them a few months ago to help locate Kira. Light made a similar request years ago but took it back a couple times due to stress from knowing when everyone would die."

Everyone was taken aback by that, especially Luka who didn’t understand what Shinigami eyes were, but Light quickly played along, understanding from Adrien's expression why he was revealing this information now. "Yeah...I didn’t plan to tell anyone since I got rid of it a long time ago. But, Adrien, you plan to ensure Marinette can't try to lie her way out of this, right?"

"That's right. When someone has the Shinigami eyes, you can't see the lifespan of someone who owns the Death Note. Don't worry about my lifespan or Light's, Tikki restored it a while ago."

Silence for a few moments before Near replied, "So I would assume that's how you know Lila doesn't have a Death Note."

"She might have renounced one," Adrien replied, "But yes, from what I have seen, she doesn't have a Death Note." He quickly transformed and entered the interrogation room, removing Marinette's blindfold, "Marinette, it's been a while."

Marinette blinked a few times, processing the room's bright lights where it had previously been pitch black for her. If she even noticed his eyes had changed from green to red, she didn't say anything on the matter as she glared at him and looked away.

Trying to not let the stress of the situation get to him despite the painful knots in his stomach, Chat Noir forced a laugh, deciding to get under her skin a bit with a nickname she had always detested. She tended to talk more when she was annoyed. "Come on, Bugaboo, surely you're grateful to see me. I was sent by the task force because Adrien begged them to not torture you for information like they wanted to. You can talk to me, right? I might be able to help you, but you have to tell me everything you know from Master Fu about damaged Miraculous. A friend of ours fell victim to the Peacock, just like Mrs. Agreste did, and he's been comatose for weeks."

Marinette scoffed, "A friend or ours? Those assholes are not my friends, and that sad little dweeb can die for all I care!" She barked out, laughing.

_ "Why you—" _ Chat winced at Mogi's enraged commentary through the earpiece that he was wearing, and he took a shaky breath to calm himself before putting on a mask.

"Apologies for the misunderstanding; I was referring to a friend of mine, Adrien's, and the Kira task force. I really would suggest telling me what you know; I know you've held off telling me anything since our partnership began, but this is your life on the line. Don't you understand you'll be hanged?!"

Marinette gasped, "Don't give me that attitude! I didn't do anything wrong!" She shouted. "And anyways, why would I wanna help? Your team will hang me either way! Or is that not what they're telling you in the earpiece?"

"It's not," Chat replied simply, "In exchange for assistance, L is actually extremely lenient to criminals. We had two of which he kept from being arrested in exchange for them assisting him from time to time on the original Kira case. There are others on Death Row he will have released if they comply with him. I am only trying to help you here, but you have to tell me what you know about healing someone from a damaged Miraculous.”

He knew full well after what happened to Near that L had no intention of being as kind as he was with Aiber, Wedy, or any other criminal. Even if he was, someone else would kill her. Perhaps Misa, or he wouldn't put it past Mogi or Soichiro right now.

Another thought crossed his mind with wide eyes. Was Ryuk planning to kill her now that she had been arrested? Surely he would at least wait. Maybe he could bribe the Shinigami into not doing it.

Marinette squirmed, pretending to contemplate her options, "Alright I'll help," Chat perked up for a moment until Marinette continued, "But I require better payment."

"Better payment than sparing your life?" He finally let a bit of his anger show, and he knew the others were on the brink of losing it. "What could you possibly—" 

“Adrien.”

Chat froze, attempting to suppress the urge to be sick. He heard the others lose it in his earpiece, and he had to gesture at the window to stop someone from storming in and forcefully shutting Marinette up. Finally, he let his anger show, forcing himself to speak. "What in the world makes you think you're entitled to him?! Hasn't he been through enough?!"

Marinette laughed, raising her eyebrow, "He isn't dead, right?" She asked, "I bet he's safe and sound in his little cutesy suite until his fake parents needed him! Probably didn't do much for the case." She said nonchalantly.

Chat Noir felt something snap within him, and he couldn't even stop himself from dropping the transformation right in front of her. As tears poured down his face, he finally began shouting. "I am the head detective of this investigation! I had to take the Shinigami eyes and watch all of my loved ones die or be tortured _ because of you, bitch!" _

Marinette's eyes widened in horror as she saw who stood before her, as though everything was clicking into place about who she had been mistreating for years. "That means your lifespan is—"

He stormed away, not bothering to listen to her selfish reasons for concern about what she believed happened to his lifespan. He slammed the door shut, glancing to his family, "Do what you want with her. I don't care anymore." 

Adrien picked up the pace and ran out, not hearing Luka following him with a plea of, "Adrien, wait!”

...

Luka ran through the halls, trying to locate Adrien. He already left the task force who was doing god knows what to get answers from Marinette now—he could only hope L somewhat kept to his morality speech. He kept running until he came across Adrien.

He was curled up on the edge of a window, looking out to the city line, bathed in sunlight, while Plagg purred against his cheek. 

Luka hesitantly approached the boy, pausing when Adrien curled up further into himself. "I'm sorry," he quickly apologized, "Do you need space? I can go if you'd like me to—" Luka said, only to stop when Adrien hesitantly patted the space next to him. 

Luka leaned against the edge of the window, turning to Adrien, who seemingly refused to look him in the eyes, "So… Shinigami eyes?" He attempted to say nonchalantly but came off as awkward.

Adrien looked at Luka with a kind of incredulous look that just screamed, "Really?" which warded Luka off,

"Sorry! Just asked!" He said, putting his hands in the air. "I just...I feel a bit out of place here. I wish I could understand everything you guys are saying and help, but I wasn't on this case for as long as you were." He said, albeit a bit bitterly.

Adrien uncurled from his position and tugged on Luka's sleeve, "No, you do help… you're the reason we even figured out who Kira was in the first place." He said softly, taking Luka's hand in his.

Luka smiled, going to sit on the edge next to Adrien, and looked at him expectantly. Adrien huffed and went to fix his hair and sit properly. "You probably have several questions about this case." Adrien said, skirting around the topic.

Luka nodded, motioning him to go on. Adrien groaned, "Fine, but please keep an open mind about this. So I may have omitted some details—" he started,

"Just like you omitted the fact Ryuzaki’s also L?" Luka asked with a playful lilt in his voice.

Adrien scoffed as Plagg snickered on his shoulder, "It isn't really a secret if everyone calls him L, kid!" He laughed, "But for the record, Adrien was mostly honest; he just left out one tiny detail." He explained before flying off to the kitchen to get some cheese.

Luka waited for Adrien to recollect himself before he continued, "What are Shinigami eyes? Why do you have them?" He asked.

"Basically, all Shinigami have special eyes that give them the ability to see someone's name and lifespan if they look at them or a picture of them. A human can gain Shinigami eyes, but only by giving up half of their remaining lifespan. Usually people with a Death Note do so for the sake of making killing easier." Adrien explained, making hand gestures to visualize the process. He quieted down for a moment, "I… did the exchange for the Shinigami eyes, but we got Tikki to restore my lifespan, so basically I got them for free! I didn't get the eyes for murder, but rather for the case...even if they were useful when Near was abducted." He quickly mumbled to a very panicked Luka.

Luka sighed a breath of relief before pausing as something didn’t add up, "Wait...what you said just there implies a Death Note is involved...and you've used it." 

Adrien shook his head, "I… managed to get in contact with Marinette's Shinigami." He said sheepishly.

"What?! You know Marinette's Shinigami?!" Luka shouted, only to be shushed by Adrien,

"Quiet! There's an echo in this building! And yes, I do. I convinced Plagg to let me talk to him after getting the eyes, and I found another Death Note that belonged to him. That way, he would have to come check on me, and maybe I could make something slip. I...may have used it to deal with the monks who were torturing Near. But Ryuk wouldn't tell me who the other Kira was, though. Said it would be ‘too boring’ if he did."

Luka nodded in understanding before suddenly pulling away from Adrien, "And do your parents know of this?" He asked, still unsure.

Adrien nodded, "They do, which is why Tikki restored my lifespan! It did happen before, after all," he looked back out at the city, disgusted by his easy it was to lie now.

Luka nodded, yet something still remained off. Adrien could only hope that Luka would trust him in this, and he wasn't beginning to put the real pieces together. Had he said too much? 

He yearned to tell Luka everything about where he really got the eyes and about Kira, but he didn't know what Luka's stance on the original Kira was. Even if he felt guilty lying, it would be worse if he accidentally condemned Light to death.

After a moment, Luka smiled casually at Adrien, "Well, thanks, Angel. That certainly clarified some stuff," he said, bumping into Adrien's shoulder.

Adrien breathed out a laugh, blushing gently. He rubbed his shoulder lovingly, momentarily in his own little world, before feeling the heat on his cheek. He anxiously turned to Luka, "Luka, I—" he started only to be gently cut off by Luka.

Luka looked out the window, contemplative, "Marinette used many people, didn't she? She used us especially." He said, almost bitterly. It was a bit easy to forget he used to love Marinette and saw her as a good person. Lord knows what his heart had to go through when Adrien was gone.

Adrien fidgeted with his hands, thinking back to his partnership with Ladybug or his friendship with Marinette. Luka did make a point. "Yeah… she did." He said, shoulders tensing as he tried to make himself ask something he had been curious about. "Um... are we…" he tried to say, to only chicken out when the words came out of his mouth.

Luka turned to Adrien in slight shock, not thinking such a relationship was an option. He quickly recollected himself, reminded of their current situation, and took Adrien's hand in his, "Adrien. Whatever is between us, is a future us problem. Don't get me wrong, I want… whatever this is. Probably as much as you do. But we should wait until after the case. Where everyone's alive and well, and Marinette is out of the picture, and… I think that will allow us time to grow and heal. I want this too, but I'm asking you to wait for the both of us, okay? I'll wait for you too." He asked gently, voice cracking.

Adrien nodded, tears of relief rolling down his face. It was nice to have that choice. To be allowed to wait. He slumped as Luka hugged him, rubbing soothing patterns on his back.

They untangled from the hug, both of their faces inches away from one another. Adrien's breath picked up as Luka smiled before gently kissing the corner of Adrien's mouth. 

He pulled away from a shocked Adrien and got us for the edge, walking away, "Night, Adrien," he said, unable to hide his over-the-moon happy smile, "See you tomorrow?" He asked, grinning at the blushing blonde.

"Yea—Yeah totally!" Adrien blabbered out as Luka laughed gently, walking away with a little salute.

Adrien touched the corner of his mouth, tracing the area as if to recreate the same sensation from a moment ago. 

"No way, I missed it!" Plagg whined, holding a mini platter of cheese Adrien bought especially for him.

And Adrien could only laugh and grin like an idiot while his Kwami teased him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teacup: Sooooo we’re back! Because we’ve been working so much on Divergence (if you haven’t read it and you like MLB highly recommend go check it out) we have been disregarding some of our other fics! So we’re going to try eventually and cycle through them to make shit even👍🏻


End file.
